Not Another Love Story
by Cascore
Summary: Society believes that a princess will inevitably meet her Prince Charming some day. The thought of a happily ever after is sought by everyone, especially during the high school years. But one princess just doesn't seem to fit the mold.
1. New Girl

**Cascore's Note: Woohoo, another new story from me! I can understand your excitement! Yes yes, with three other projects that I still need to complete, taking up a fourth seems a bit overachieving, but, well, sometimes I just get overzealous. Anyway, I've always wanted to write a story about the Mario characters in high school (yes, it's been done before, and yes, I usually enjoy reading stories that are based in high school), and now I've finally gotten around to doing it. So I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.**

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**Chapter 1: "New Girl"**

"So what do you say? Me. You. Seven o' clock. Dinner and a movie?"

"How about this? You. A pair of scissors. Five o' clock. Castrate yourself?"

"Come on baby, don't be like that. I've noticed you noticin' me lately. And now I'm putting you on notice that I'm noticin' you too."

"Oooh, as smooth of a pick-up line as that was, I feel the sudden urge to pour gasoline all over your body and drop a lit match on you."

The first bell rang out all over the school and the scene showed Daisy to be leaning back against her locker wearing an orange hoodie and a pair of baggy blue jeans. She smirked as she held her blue backpack over her right shoulder and spoke with this Doogan boy who thought he had a chance of convincing her to go on a date with him.

"So are we done here, because I don't want to be late for class," Daisy asked sweetly as the boy backed off, feeling utterly defeated about the failure. He soon turned his own insecurity into anger, feeling determined to win this encounter.

"Man, I dunno why I bothered," he shot back as he began to walk away. "My friends told me you were a frigid bitch anyway."

"Nice talking to you too!" Daisy called after the boy as he walked off. He stuck his middle finger in the air, making Daisy scoff and head for the other direction. "The joys of high school. Best years of your life."

Despite constantly being around over three thousand other students throughout the day, high school was a lonely place for Daisy. The way she acted, everyone thought she was sarcastic to the point of being heartless. The way she dressed, everyone thought she was a poser and most believed she was a lesbian. Just because she had a slightly different sense of humor and because she dressed for comfort and not for looks, everyone assumed all these things about her that simply weren't true. And eventually, she'd given up on making any friends at all.

The biggest wall in her way though was the fact that she turned down every guy that approached her. She was a Freshman, only starting school a mere two weeks ago, and already two Sophomores, a Junior, and even a Senior attempted to ask her out on dates. And on every single occasion she turned them down, using varying degrees of sarcasm depending on how they asked: the sweeter, shyer guys that asked were turned down softly, careful not to hurt their feelings. For guys that appeared haughty however, she didn't hold back her true feelings and used her acidic tongue to turn them away, not caring if that guy would ever speak to her again. Why would she want him to anyway?

She knew exactly why so many guys appeared to be interested in her too. She was a very pretty girl. Her skin was soft and flawless and her hair always appeared to be perfect. Even her large clothes were kept tidy and in order, somehow managing to attract a number of guys despite the fact it didn't show off her figure at all. However, it wasn't only the fact that she was pretty that so many guys pursued her. She knew that one of the biggest reasons was the fact she was a Freshman. In other words, fresh meat, or, more accurately, as the Junior commented while hitting on her:

"_Freshman? Haha, more like fresh piece of ass!"_

Like a fool, he actually attempted to cop a feel, only to be met with a strike that would make him double over and cry in the middle of the hallway for several minutes. He would later wobble off to class with weak knees, where the teacher would mark him tardy before sending him directly to the nurse.

Yes, Daisy was certainly not setting herself off to a good start as far as popularity went, but really, how much could she care? So she didn't bother making friends with people who couldn't accept her for who she was. And she wasn't the typical bubbly Freshman girl who would giddily accept a date from a Junior or a Senior in a second. She had no previous interest in boys, and being in high school didn't change her ways in the slightest. And somehow, because of this, she was automatically made an outcast, forced to wander the hallways alone and to sit by herself during lunch.

She didn't mind though. She always carried a smile everywhere she went, never letting anything truly get her down. So guys thought she was a bitch and girls thought she was just odd. It didn't matter. Being alone wasn't truly as bad as people seemed to make it out to be.

For one, she wasn't forced to talk to anyone if she wasn't in the mood to, and she could easily avoid the unnecessary drama that constantly plagued the hallways of the school. Countless were the times that she passed by a group of girlfriends, all focusing their positive energy on one of their ranks that just recently had her heart broken because some guy used her just to get her in bed and dump her shortly thereafter. Hearing the empty promises of "cutting his balls off" or "killing him in his sleep" made Daisy wonder why none of the girls offered any constructive advice, like to think twice before trusting a guy like that again. And the astounding thing was that, the very next day, that heartbroken girl and that suddenly remorseful ex-boyfriend would be caught talking again, and, before anyone knew it, they were holding hands and making out in front of classrooms all over again. And worst of all, the girl's friends would just accept it. Honestly, how naïve would you have to be to get back together with this guy that just completely betrayed your trust? Daisy just couldn't understand. And, fortunately, the way things were going for her, she would never have to.

Maybe all this crap that people put themselves through could simply make an interesting story someday, when they realize they didn't have to go through it all in the first place.

For now though, she would simply take a seat in her algebra class. Front of the room, near the teacher and the whiteboard, where she always sat. Like every other, this was simply a normal day of high school. And Daisy couldn't be more excited to learn about the Pythagorean Theorem and it's many uses in the world of arithmetic.

–

Gym was Daisy's favorite class. It was the only one where she was actually admired and graded well for her tough and competitive nature.

Running laps? No sweat.

Playing basketball? Sure thing.

Dodgeball? All for it.

As a matter of fact, dodgeball was the game of choice this fine day, and the chosen captains always automatically clamored to add Daisy to their team first. Today, Toad was the lucky captain. He was granted the first choice, and he picked her right off the bat.

Toad. A truly good guy all around. He was a Sophomore and was currently happily involved with a Freshman Toad girl that he'd known since the seventh grade. Forever optimistic and a very good sport, it was hard not to like him really. And so far, he was the closest thing Daisy had to a friend. Sure, they never really saw each other or chatted outside of gym class, but they had a pleasant acquaintanceship during that hour of the day.

Daisy made her way over to Toad's side as a number of the males left behind in the group waiting to be chosen made their typical hormonally charged silent comments, staring at her more attractive parts. Unlike how she dressed for the rest of the day, Daisy wore a tight yellow jersey and a pair of orange shorts that hugged her skin comfortably for gym class. The clothes were nice and light, but, as a price, it did expose the body she hid most of the time. She really didn't care that she was showing so much skin, but, coincidentally, all the guys that tried asking her out just so happened to be from her gym class.

Once Daisy joined Toad, the team selection came to a stand-still. Everyone could hear the door into the building open up and close softly as someone made an entrance. The entire room turned to see who it was and excited whispers among the guys seemed inevitable as the new figure was another human girl, dressed in a pink T-shirt and a pair of matching pink shorts. She had her blond hair tied in a ponytail with a blue scrunchy, revealing pools of light blue eyes remarkably similar to Daisy's. The boys counted there lucky stars for having a girl as their new student as the green-shelled Koopa coach made his way over to the new arrival.

"Sorry I'm late Sir," the girl apologized, stepping forward a bit to meet the approaching instructor. "I got a little lost trying to find my way here."

"It's fine, it's fine," the Koopa coach muttered as he read through the names on his attendance sheet attached to his clipboard.

"I'd tap that," Daisy could overhear the Doogan that hit on her that morning mutter to his friend in the small crowd. The boy he was speaking to chuckled as a Koopa girl next to him nudged him in the ribs roughly.

"Shut up. God, you're such a pig," she whispered back. Daisy redirected her gaze over to the new girl, who appeared to hear what the Doogan said, for she blushed lightly, though she continued to keep her attention on the coach.

"Peach? No last name?" the coach asked after a few seconds of searching. Peach nodded in response and the coach made a mark next to her name on the clipboard. "Well, we're playing dodgeball today. Hope you don't mind."

After the slightly sarcastic remark, the coach led Peach back over to the group of students waiting to be picked for the game. The second captain, a pink Bob-Omb girl, picked her Goomba friend out of the crowd. Before making his next choice, Toad turned to Daisy, a common action, for the two usually consulted with each other before deciding on who would be a good addition to the team.

"Hey, think we should ask her to join us?" Toad whispered. Daisy looked over at Peach, who was being spoken to by the Doogan that just made the disgusting remark about her.

"Yeah, it couldn't hurt," Daisy responded.

Toad nodded and pointed out Peach from the small crowd. She made her way forward from the back of the group and smiled meekly as she joined the duo in front of the rest of the students.

"Thanks for choosing me," Peach muttered as she stood behind Daisy, who turned to have a small talk with her.

"We couldn't leave you to suffer while Doog actually talked to you," Daisy responded with a smile.

"Oh, is that his name?" Peach asked. "He called himself a 'smoking hot piece of man meat' when he spoke to me." Toad couldn't help but chuckle as he eavesdropped on this tidbit of information and Daisy rolled her eyes.

"He's a special case," Daisy informed. "Just ignore him when he says stuff like that." She appeared to think for a moment after making this statement. "Actually...ignore him when he says just about anything."

Peach's smile grew more natural as she couldn't hold back a giggle. Toad called out a blue-shelled Koopa boy once it was his turn to choose again as Daisy extended a hand.

"I'm Daisy by the way." Peach grasped her hand rather weakly as she shook it.

"It's nice to meet you," she responded. "My name is Peach."

Peach. The new girl. Like Daisy, her royal status as a princess was kept low-key by simply registering her to the school without a last name. Also like Daisy, people asked why she didn't have a last name. And, like Daisy, she gave varying responses, usually involving heritage, though, occasionally, Daisy liked to toss out, "The last time I checked, this was the Mushroom Kingdom," before walking away, leaving the person who asked to wonder exactly what just happened.

Over the course of the class, Peach would prove to be rather useless as a dodgeball player. If it weren't for a few of the other students feeling sorry for her utter lack of coordination and purposefully lobbing the ball over her head, she would have been a sitting duck in the heart of the game. The only thing worse than her skill at dodging was her ability to throw. Daisy couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl as she attempted to use the ball as a projectile. Sadly, what was meant to be a bullet turned into a dud as the ball dropped to a roll before even getting across the halfway point between the teams.

Despite her lack of skill or strength, Daisy and Toad couldn't say that Peach was a bad addition to the team. During the entire game, she smiled and laughed at herself about her own shortcomings, realizing she wasn't good at the game at all. Having her around felt like a breath of fresh air, for she was even able to get Daisy, who always focused on winning, to not take the game quite so seriously.

After a while, Peach proved herself to be a pretty stand-up girl.

–

Donned in her comfortable hoodie and jeans, Daisy emerged from the girls' locker room after class let out. Toad passed her by in the hallway before she departed and the two said their goodbyes to each other, letting each other know that they'd see one another again the next day.

Daisy began to head out for the cafeteria as Peach hurried out of the door just behind her. Dressed in a pink spaghetti strap tank top and tight blue jeans, Peach made her way over to Daisy quickly while securing her backpack over her shoulders. She tapped Daisy on the shoulder, causing her to turn and face her.

"What's up?" Daisy asked with a friendly smile.

"Um," Peach began rather shyly, looking away from Daisy as she spoke. It was obvious she hadn't done something like this before and Daisy could tell that her face wasn't only red because of the strenuous activity of the class. "I was just wondering if I could join you for lunch. If it's okay with you and your friends," she managed to ask rather quickly.

What friends?, Daisy wanted to say as she heard this. She refrained from letting the comment slip however and nodded instead. "Of course you can join me," Daisy responded cheerfully. Peach smiled brightly as she received the answer. She didn't notice, but she suddenly stood up a bit straighter and had more of a confident look as she walked alongside Daisy to the cafeteria.

Before transferring to this high school, Peach attended a small, all-girls private school that supported students from kindergarten all the way through the twelfth grade, and even provided several college courses for girls that wanted to stay at the location. After spending so many years at this same school, Peach felt the need for a bit of change. She was always a quiet girl and she did have her small group of friends, but she kept herself so absorbed in her studies that she was rarely able to give them the time of day. Growing up virtually alone and being taught to always mind her studies first, Peach became bored with her life in general as she approached her Freshman year of the high school program.

Entering a new academic stage of her life, Peach begged her father to let her transfer to a different school. He wasn't adverse to the idea, but didn't seem to listen to his daughter's wants as he began listing off other private girls-only schools that Peach could attend, a few of which that provided boarding for the students. In the initial conversation concerning the change of schools, it took Peach roughly ten minutes to get her father to listen and discover that she was just wanted to go to a public school; a school that had more than just a couple hundred students and that was accessible to anyone, not just girls from upper-middle to high class families.

Hearing this from his daughter, King Toadstool simply wouldn't stand for it at first. A proper princess could only be raised under the best that education had to offer, and away from the foul minds of adolescent boys that would bring nothing but harm to her innocent soul. Everything was stated with the intent of protecting Peach, but he was quickly countered with the idea that education in public schools was honestly no worse than that provided at a private one, and if she was meant to take a king when she was Queen one day, how could she hope to meet and attract a suitable man if she was always kept so isolated from them for the duration of her life? The argument made the king stop and think, and after several moments, he proposed planned marriage. Needless to say, Peach was appalled by the suggestion, for she was raised with the idea of marrying for love, not obligation.

Despite her fortitude, she had to wait until the weekend before the current morning for her father to allow her to leave the private school and enroll at this one. Being a princess herself, Daisy felt that she could relate to the story as she bit down into her juicy red apple. The pair rested in the courtyard provided specifically for lunch. The area consisted of about half a dozen tables, numerous low walls on which students could sit, and was situated next to a grassy lawn where the kids could play various sports if they so wished.

"Yeah, I had to get pretty rough with my dad to make him let me attend public school too," Daisy commented. "He started seeing things my way by fourth grade though."

"How did you convince him?" Peach asked from across the table, chewing on a morsel of her salad.

"We wrestled," Daisy responded nonchalantly. "I won two out of three rounds, so he had to let me attend public school from then on."

Peach was shocked that Daisy could impart this information as if it were completely normal. She had trouble picturing Daisy at the age of nine wrestling her father, the king of Sarasaland, and actually winning. Twice. That must have been very embarrassing for him.

"I was so glad too," Daisy continued. "I couldn't stand having to dress up for school every day and being around nothing but girls all the time." She gave a quick glance over to a group of Freshman boys squirting milk out of their noses and laughing like it was the most hilarious thing in the world. "Well, maybe that part about being around girls constantly wasn't really so bad."

"Are all the boys here really so bad?" Peach asked as she looked over at the same group with a disgusted expression. Daisy shrugged.

"Not really," she admitted. "I'm sure there are plenty of good guys around here. Like Toad for example, he's pretty decent."

Daisy could hardly finish her sentence before a stray soccer ball flew right at her, smacking her harshly in the side of her head and knocking her completely off her seat. Peach immediately dropped her fork and stood in surprised as several girls who witnessed the event nearby burst out in laughter.

"Mama-Mia!" a male voice could be heard a fair distance away from the table. Peach knelt down to help Daisy to her feet worriedly.

"Are you okay!?" she asked with a shocked voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Daisy assured, holding the left side of her face, which had gone red thanks to the sudden hit. Despite her efforts to sound okay, it couldn't be denied that the ball hit her rather hard and left her cheek stinging.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" the male voice apologized over and over again as the boy carrying it came closer and closer. Both Daisy and Peach looked over to discover a pair of boys running over to them quickly. They both looked rather similar to each other. They were both humans, both had the same brown hair color and hairstyle, bore the beginnings of mustaches, and had the same blue eyes. However, one was taller and skinnier and wore a green long sleeved shirt with blue jeans while the other was shorter and pudgier and wore a red long sleeved shirt with blue jeans. And upon their heads, they wore similarly designed hats. The boy in green wore a green hat with an "L" resting in a white circle on the front and the boy in red wore a red hat with an "M" resting in a similar white circle. They both also wore their own pairs of thick white gloves.

"Are you okay?" the one in red asked once the pair reached the girls.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Daisy reiterated for the boys. The one in red knelt down to pick up the ball, which came to rest a few feet away while the boy in green inspected the large red mark on Daisy's face.

"I'm really sorry," he apologized once again. "I didn't mean to kick it that hard and it just kinda flew over here."

"Really, it's cool," Daisy said with a chuckle as she observed the worried look in the boy's face. He obviously didn't know just how used to rough contact she was by now. As she looked at him though, Daisy realized his expression suddenly changed. Before he realized what he was doing, the boy blushed a slight red as he gazed into her large blue eyes. He found himself staring at them until the boy in red grabbed him on the shoulder.

"We should get back to the game Luigi," he suggested just before glancing over at Peach, who looked back at him as well. Their shared glance only lasted for a moment before Luigi shook his head roughly.

"Uh, yeah, you're right Mario," Luigi agreed hesitantly. "Um, sorry again. But it was nice to meet you..." he continued, leaving off the rest of the sentence to allow the girls to impart their names.

"Daisy."

"Peach."

"Right..." Luigi muttered mostly to himself as he and Mario began to leave. Daisy and Peach took their seats once more as Daisy stopped rubbing her cheek.

"Well that was weird," she said, looking at her wasted apple resting on the ground nearby. Peach was still watching the boys leave however, appearing to focus on the one in red, who stole a quick glance back at her at the same time. Moments later, the boy in green looked back as well. Upon seeing that Daisy was more focused on the dropped apple though, he turned back around. He could be seen staring downward at the ground shortly thereafter.


	2. Fairy Tales

**A/N: Thank you Wimpzilla and Mr Wang 330 for your reviews, they really inspired me to work on this chapter as soon as possible. I was hoping not to have too many Original Characters in this story, but I already added four in this chapter alone. So yeah. Hopefully I won't end up making too many more. Anywho, this chapter goes on to explain a little bit of Daisy's childhood and her thoughts on fairy tales while introducing her family (aunt, uncle, and cousin) and a family friend. Why do I talk about fairy tales in this chapter? Well, read on and find out. I hope you enjoy.**

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**Chapter 2: "Fairy Tales"**

"I'm home!" Daisy announced as she dropped her backpack off next to the front door of the cozy one-story house. She looked around at the living room just inside with a smile on her face.

For the duration of her schooling, Daisy convinced her father to let her live with her uncle and his wife, a pair that lived humbly despite being related to the king of Sarasaland. They already resided in Toad Town, the location where Daisy would be attending school, and they lived the life that Daisy secretly wanted.

Deep down, Daisy wished she could just be a normal girl like any other. Princesses couldn't go for a walk without an escort accompanying them. Princesses had to wear dresses at all times. Princesses had to be trained to be responsible for running an entire land someday, and princesses were always expected to find a prince, who would be the new king some day. She really didn't mind the idea of running Sarasaland when her father stepped down from the throne, but Daisy could already hardly stand never being able to walk alone and having to wear dresses. The expected idea of society that she would find a prince that would effortlessly love her and make her happy for the rest of her life was just completely ludicrous.

"_Fairy tales can come true."_

Daisy heard this saying so many times that she began to wonder if it was actually true at a very young age. As a matter of fact, in kindergarten, she questioned the validity of one specific fairy tale that her teacher had just finished telling to the class.

"How come it always says they lived happily ever after at the end of the story?" she would ask in front of everyone, shocking the teacher quite a bit. Soon, a few other children would begin to wonder as well.

"Yeah. My mommy and daddy are married, but they're not always happy like that," another girl would call out.

"And I saw my big sister kiss five different boys, but she never lived happily ever after with any of them," yet another girl would add, making the teacher sweat, not expecting these young children to think so deeply into the story.

"Well, um..." she would stutter. "You see..."

Thankfully, the bell would ring just in time, granting the poor teacher a great moment of relief as she urged the young children outside into the playground for recess. Daisy would stay behind though, partially thanks to her own will and partially due to the fact that the teacher would want to speak with her.

"Daisy...why did you ask that question?" the teacher would ask, unknowing of how exactly to handle the situation.

"Because, it's stupid," Daisy would respond bluntly as she tried to explain, causing the teacher to recoil. "Fairy tales can't be real. They don't make sense."

"Princess..."

"Don't call me that," Daisy would shoot back. "Princesses are in fairy tales, and fairy tales aren't real. I don't want to be something that's not real."

In actuality, Daisy lost her purity and innocence at a pitifully young age. Thanks to witnessing the death of her mother when she was only three and harboring that as the first memory to hold firm in her mind, Daisy always wondered why fairy tales never divulged into life after the first kiss or after the wedding ceremony. Why did everyone always assume that things would be okay? That love would prevail over everything, and that princesses were destined to lived happily ever after? It was almost maddening to think about all the details that the tales left out just to give a happy ending.

However, as she grew up and observed the innocence of youth, she began to understand. Children simply were not like her. Daisy was an actual princess; she was the subject matter of many fairy tales, and as such, she felt that these stories pertained to her personally. It made her wonder how people expected her life to end up, and how they would react if she didn't turn out to be the perfect stereotype of a princess. It made her worry.

But other kids, they weren't princes or princesses. They were kids. Just kids. They were allowed to believe that life could be perfect, because they would learn otherwise later and truthfully, people wouldn't expect them to turn out like this. Kids had the ability to accept a happily ever after ending. And as they played their games and lived their young lives, they could make a happily ever after come true in their imaginations. That was good enough for them.

The case was especially true for Daisy's little cousin. Her little cousin that she simply knew was hiding somewhere, waiting to pounce, for the house was far too quiet.

Daisy stood by the doorway as she looked around, waiting to see somebody walk out and greet her.

"I said I'm home!" Daisy called out a second time as she put a hand on her hip with a smile. When everything continued to be silent, she rolled her eyes. "Oh well, I guess Ilys won't be getting this brownie I brought home from school for her!" she continued, pulling a large, wrapped brownie out of one of her front pockets and holding it rather high into the air. "I suppose I'll just eat it myself!"

"Gimme!" a high-pitched voice cried out from above Daisy. She turned around and looked upward immediately as a young girl with short brown hair dressed in a white T-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts flew at her from above the doorway, having managed to hold herself above it by pressing her limbs against the surrounding walls. Daisy immediately dropped the brownie and caught the little girl as she fell right into her arms. "Hi Daisy!" she greeted happily as she hugged her older cousin around the neck. Daisy returned the hug and gave the girl a big kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Ilys!" Daisy greeted back with a giggle.

Ilys (pronounced "ee-lees") was Daisy's outgoing four year old cousin, and byfar the best friend she could possibly ask for. Her large, innocent brown eyes hid a truly adventurous spirit, one that rivaled even Daisy's, for she grew up thinking of Daisy as more of a sister than a cousin.

Ever since she could walk and talk, Ilys imitated Daisy's every word and action, serving as her smaller mirror image. And having such a young, impressionable girl admire her so much served as a positive experience. Ilys reminded her of the importance of imagination and fearlessness while teaching her how imperative it was to be a good role model. With this in mind, Daisy quickly committed herself to serving as an example for this young girl. And as an example, she had to keep her views on fairy tales a secret.

"Where are Mommy and Daddy?" Daisy asked as she continued to carry her small cousin, who quickly forgot about the promise of a brownie.

"They're in the backyard with Mister Monty," Ilys responded as Daisy turned to carry her through the living room.

Wonder what's going on now, Daisy thought as the two made their way to the backyard.

Monty Mole, or Mister Monty as he preferred to be called, was the city's event organizer. He would always go from house to house, attempting to recruit volunteers to help with setting up the proper accommodations for the gatherings. It was a long and difficult process, usually taking several days to visit every house and find people who would actually give up some of their spare time to come out and help. Realizing just how rough it must be to carry this job out every time a city-wide event took place, Daisy's aunt and uncle agreed to place the family on the "preferred" list; a list of individual households that could be visited with a likely chance of receiving participation.

The two signed themselves up for the service a full ten years ago, before either Daisy or Ilys were in the picture. Daisy learned of this the very day she moved in with her new guardians and was more than happy to lend a hand anytime she could. It served as a great opportunity to bond and to meet a wide variety of new people who also volunteered. Daisy thoroughly enjoyed herself every time she was able to help, and now, with Ilys by her side to impart her never-ending energy, going out and working was more fun than ever.

"Oh, hello Daisy, you're just on time," Mister Monty spoke quickly as he adjusted his thick glasses. He was a short and stout brown Mole that wore a blue work suit, which seemed barely large enough to contain his bulgy frame. He stood before Daisy's aunt and uncle, who were resting in lawn chairs as they paid the visitor their full attention. Daisy's uncle was taller than everyone, standing a full foot over his wife, the second tallest in the family. He wore a white button-up shirt that tucked into a pair of belted khaki slacks while his wife wore a pink T-shirt with a pair of blue-jean shorts that reached just above her knees. Looking at them, it was difficult to believe that the uncle was related to Daisy or that either of them were Ilys's parents; the uncle had short blond hair and hazel eyes while the aunt sported longer orange hair and a set of blue eyes.

They both turned and smiled as they witnessed Daisy joining them and taking a seat at a third lawn chair located to the right of her uncle.

"Hey everyone," she greeted, sitting Ilys on her lap as she settled into her chair. "What's up?"

"We were just talking about Sports Day," her uncle answered with a slightly surprised his expression. "Don't tell me you forgot already."

"Oh man, that completely slipped my mind," Daisy admitted as Ilys giggled at her.

"Come on Daisy, you're not old enough to start forgetting things," her aunt teased, causing Daisy to stick her tongue out at her childishly. Ilys followed her example and stuck out her tongue as well, making both adults retaliate with the same action.

Sports Day was a biannual event that celebrated the athlete in everyone for one day in Spring and one day in Autumn. The entire city park was used from sun up until sun down and split into sections where anyone who wanted to participate could join in for the fun. Basketball, baseball, tennis, every popular sport imaginable was showcased that day. Stands were set up for supporting audiences and stadium lights were provided in case participants wanted to continue to play after the sun set. It was a very lively and active day where everyone was welcome, and it was easily one of Daisy's favorite events throughout the year.

"So you're all eager to help yes?" Mister Monty asked as a sheer formality before marking the family's name on the list.

"I'm sure Julie is," the uncle answered with a smile as he looked at his wife.

"And I know Jeff is too," Julie responded, returning the smile.

"You know I'm in," Daisy added.

"Me too!" Ilys spoke up with a bright grin.

"Good good," Mister Monty said happily as he scribbled a mark onto his extensive list of names. "I'm very glad you are all so willing to assist with setting everything up. If you would, please visit the city park at five o' clock this afternoon. I need to visit more households to see if we can get additional support and we will be starting as soon as possible for the event to successfully take place this weekend. Thank you and I will see you there."

With that, Mister Monty wobbled his way over to a hole he created in the ground when he first arrived in the backyard near the fence surrounding the border of the area. The spot in question was reserved specifically for his visits anyway, so neither Jeff nor Julie ever bothered fixing it.

Over time, that hole became a natural part of the backyard; Mister Monty became a rather frequent visitor, going from a pure business associate on behalf of the city to a family friend who often stopped by to simply shoot the breeze over a glass of lemonade. When he appeared in his suit with his business face on, he always appeared to speak too quickly in hopes of cutting down time so he could move on to the next house as soon as possible. However, his method contradicted itself quite often, for he tended to impart too much unneeded information. When simply passing by and visiting however, he seemed like a completely different Mole. His speech became slow and almost lazy, but he always got straight to the point. Whichever method of speech he chose though, he always seemed to take too much time to say just about anything. Everyone enjoyed his visits however, for, below his business-like exterior, he was a laid back individual and seemed to take life at a comfortably steady pace.

Once their visitor was out of sight, Jeff turned to his niece and ruffled her hair a bit, causing her to wave his hand away playfully.

"So what sport am I beating you in this time?" he asked with a smile.

"None of them, because you're not gonna win," Daisy answered, returning the smile.

"Oh really?" Jeff responded with a raised eyebrow. "And what makes you think that?"

"Because this time I'm gonna have Ilys on my team," Daisy announced as Ilys quickly hugged Daisy around her neck once again and stared at her parents with a competitive look.

"That's right!" she said happily. Julie let out a small chuckle before speaking up.

"I think they've got you there Jeff," she commented. "There's no way you can win against both of them."

Both Daisy and Ilys nodded in agreement as Jeff inspected his daughter, appearing to size her up. After a few moments of contemplation, he obtained a smug smile.

"I think I can take you," Jeff stated as he folded his arms. Julie quickly nudged him on the shoulder, surprised he would say that to their four year old daughter. Ilys didn't back down though, as she climbed down off of Daisy's lap and stood up to her father.

"Come on! Me, you, soccer, now!" Ilys exclaimed with a smile as Jeff stood from his chair and put his hands on his hips as he looked down at his daughter proudly.

"I accept your challenge!" he answered, prompting Daisy to shoot up out of her seat.

"Alright, I'll go get the ball!" she announced excitedly as she hurried off into the house. Julie was the only person on the site to remain seated, shaking her head as chuckles escaped her.

"I always feel like the only sane one here," she muttered to herself through her giggles.

Julie was the only member of the family that didn't particularly have a very strong drive for competition. She knew what she was getting herself into when she married Jeff though, for his entire family thrived on the thrill of competitive rush. As a matter of fact, that was how the two got together.

Initially, Julie found no interest in Jeff whatsoever. He appeared to be the typical brain-dead jock when she first met him back in high school. He played as many sports as he could possibly get himself into, but as a result, his grades seemed to suffer severely. By the time he reached his Junior year, he was hardly able to pull a D average. It was when he was discussing his bad grades with a close friend of his that the two first met.

Julie had been watching Jeff for a while when she overheard the conversation. She knew he was big on sports and often seemed to skip class and shirked his homework for the sake of practicing to perfect his skills at whatever sport he was playing at the time. But when he spoke, he seemed unable to understand why his grades were so bad.

"Maybe if you stopped focusing on sports so much and actually opened a book you'd see a difference," Julie told him, causing Jeff and his friend to turn and face her.

"Well hey there pretty lady," Jeff greeted with a smile as if she hadn't just made a rather insulting remark toward him. "What's your name?"

"Get at least a B average and I'll tell you."

That was all Jeff needed. For the rest of the year, he didn't participate in a single sport. He never skipped class, he never turned in an assignment late, and never once did he get anything less than a B for the duration of his Junior year. And after school let out on the last day before summer break, he tracked her down and showed her his newest report card.

"All A's and one B," he announced proudly as Julie stared at the card in shock. Never in her life did she expect him to take her seriously. He proved that, with some determination, he could be just as good at his academics as he could at sports. And she had to admit, she was impressed. "I did what you asked," Jeff said coolly. "So how about it? Can I get a name pretty lady?"

"...Julie Cartelli," she answered, handing the card back to him. He accepted it with a soft smile spreading across his lips.

"Julie Cartelli huh?" he repeated in almost a whisper, changing his voice to a more serious tone. "Well Miss Cartelli, now that I know your name, what do I have to do to convince you to go on a date with me?"

"What makes you so sure I'd agree to a date in the first place?" Julie retorted, folding her arms defensively.

"I'm not sure at all," Jeff responded. "But I figure I might not see you again after this. And I managed to get your name, so I thought I may as well give it a shot." He stood on the spot for several more seconds, waiting to see if she would lighten up to him. When she didn't though, he simply nodded. "It's okay. I understand," he said before he turned to leave. "Goodbye Miss Cartelli."

He began to walk away as Julie simply stood there, wondering whether or not she should take him up on the offer. Jeff always appeared to be so much of a jerk, but when he spoke to her, she could feel a different side to him. A side that was true and genuine. Not only that, but he did seem to show a kind of attractive determination. He proved that he could achieve anything that he seriously put his mind into, and he actually managed to better himself academically, tossing out his entire sporting life just to show her that he could do it. He changed everything about himself just to learn her name.

"Okay okay," she eventually forced herself to say, causing Jeff to stop and turn around. "You can...pick me up on Friday night okay? At seven."

Those words led to some of the happiest years of Jeff's and Julie's lives. They dated for the duration of high school and all through college, marrying shortly thereafter. When Daisy heard this story at the age of ten, she was nothing short of astounded, having believed that things like that simply never happened. It was the stuff fairy tales were made of. It couldn't have been real.

"Well, I'm no princess," Julie said after telling Daisy the story. "And Jeff's...well, actually, he is a prince, though he certainly doesn't act like it. But Daisy, fairy tales really can come true. Your uncle and I are a perfect example."

So now, as Daisy watched her uncle and her small cousin play a slightly staged game of soccer (Ilys was obviously going to win), she honestly couldn't deny that the happily ever after ending wasn't as impossible as it seemed. The evidence was playing out before her after all. A faithful, devoted father played with his happy, energetic daughter while a cheerful, entertained mother watched from the sidelines. This had to be what a happily ever after was like.

"Yeah, go Ilys!" Daisy shouted as her little cousin got the ball and ran towards her father's goal excitedly, giggling the entire way.

But she still wondered if this was what she should expect in her own future.


	3. The Misfortunate Brother

**Author's Note: Thanks go out to Michaiah, SugarBullet, and Mr Wang 330 for the new supportive reviews as well as Wimpzilla for obvious reasons (if you go and read his fanfiction, "The L Stand for Loser", after his next update). I appreciate all the support and I hope I can continue to entertain you all with my story. So please, read and enjoy.**

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**Chapter 3: "The Misfortunate Brother"**

Work began nearly an hour ago in Toad Town's city park. Characters of all sorts milled about the many pathways of the park, helping each other lift large planks, set up lights, construct stands, anything and everything that needed to be done in order for Sports Day to be a success. Times like this were the moments in her life that Daisy felt she would always remember; times where people old and young, rich and poor, strong and weak would all pitch in and help each other with a friendly smile on their faces.

It was hard not to find a group of new friends chatting each other up over a cup of ice cold water, friends that didn't know so much as each others' names when they first stepped foot into the park. People with all kinds of backgrounds and beliefs put their differences aside as they chatted about anything from the beauty of the clear sky that afternoon to their all-time favorite actors and movies, breaking down any walls that would have previously separated them had they not met each other under these circumstances. Hell, Daisy even spotted Doog, as narcissistic and thoroughly unpleasant a character as he was, offering to take a heavy work load off of an elderly Koopa's hands when he witnessed the poor man struggling. It certainly rang true that volunteering could help bring the best out of people, no matter who they were.

Daisy walked along a shady path, the canopies of trees draping over her and blocking the amber rays of the setting sun. Jeff, Julie, and Ilys were off in the park. Somewhere. She didn't quite know where they might be. She'd lost sight of them roughly ten minutes ago. But she was sure they were off enjoying each others' company, continuing to be the happy model family that they were. Daisy wouldn't mind if she happened to stumble upon them again, but for now, she was content with wandering off by herself.

She passed a few friendly folks by, exchanging hellos with them while they either toiled away or, like her, took a break to simply enjoy the park. Really, it almost felt like wandering around high school alone. Only the hallways were outdoor paths. And the people she passed by were actually nice. But, like inside the school, she realized she was walking by herself yet again. She didn't know why she was thinking about it now. She didn't care that she had nobody to talk to. But, somehow, it just felt odd.

"_I want to be able to go to the park by myself. And I want to be able to walk around it by myself too."_

She remembered telling this to her father when she initially put forth the idea of leaving the castle for her schooling.

"But Daisy, I don't want anything to happen to you. You need an escort to ensure your safety," her father would respond.

"Dad, you know I can take care of myself," she'd say just before mumbling, "Better then you ever could."

"You think you can defend yourself better than me?"

"I know I can."

"Well then...let's see how good you are."

The conversation that inspired the series of father-daughter wrestling matches. Daisy couldn't help but chuckle as she remembered how red in the face her father was when she beat him. She never could figure out if it was from anger, embarrassment, or possibly pride, but she finally got her wish. And now it just seemed hard to believe.

Why though? She'd walked by herself in this park numerous times before and never once did she feel strange about it. Never once did she question her freedom nor had she ever felt that something was simply missing. She suddenly wished that Ilys were there with her though. The spunky young girl that held Daisy's heart in her tiny little hands so easily and didn't even know it. Surely she would come up with some kind of way to take her mind off of everything. But alas, she was off with her parents somewhere, no doubt either being the life of the party or giggling nonstop as Jeff and Julie showered her with affection. Fortunately, a distraction did come along soon enough, taking Daisy's mind off of it.

"Hey, Daisy!" a voice called out from a fair distance behind her. She looked over her shoulder to discover Toad rushing over to her, waving a hand in the air to catch her attention.

"What's up Toad?" Daisy asked as she turned to face him completely, smiling down at him.

"I was just thinking about you," he began as he slowed to a stop in front of her. "I'm glad I found you so quickly. Listen, I was just chatting with a couple friends of mine and we started talking about playing a few tennis matches on Sports Day. We decided on doubles since my friends are brothers, but my girlfriend doesn't play sports and I need a second person to help me out. So if you don't mind me asking-"

"Of course I'll be your partner Toad," Daisy happily accepted before he could finish. Toad gained a smile now as well.

"Thanks Daisy, I really appreciate it." He began to turn, appearing to leave right then and there, but he quickly stopped, figuring it would be rude to simply ask this of her and leave right on the spot. Instead, he turned back to her, an idea having apparently struck him. "Hey, do you wanna meet them? They're pretty cool guys."

"Sure," Daisy answered with a smile as Toad began to lead her down the path. Daisy stuck a hand in one of her pockets, thinking about the current situation.

Toad just made a bold and far too rare act. All her life, Daisy constantly met people around her own age that didn't seem to feel comfortable around her unless their meetings were under certain circumstances. Countless times did she make acquaintances in a classroom that would only ever speak to her within those walls. She honestly couldn't expect Brook from English class or Percy from Art to give her more than a cordial nod or a wave when they passed by in the hallways. Outside of the classroom seemed to simply mean that a relationship deeper than that of familiar strangers didn't exist.

Toad crossed the invisible boundary however. He finally broke the barrier and spoke with her comfortably outside of gym class, and on top of that, he felt a strong enough connection with Daisy to not only ask her to be his partner in tennis, but to introduce her to his own personal friends. Daisy doubted that people often thought about the moment an acquaintance became a friend, but considering her only one so far was a certain four year old relative, this moment truly meant a lot to her.

Of course, Toad wouldn't understand how momentous this instance felt to Daisy, for he had many friends already and adding new ones to his roster just seemed to come naturally to him. He seemed to be a charmed person, for he was the type that made friends before he even knew he had them. People always seemed to know his name, even people he never remembered meeting before. Of course, word of mouth can do that to a guy, but the astounding thing was that no matter who presented themselves before him, whether it was a Goth chick or a preppy jock or a gangster wannabe that somehow managed to hear about him, he could flawlessly get on their good side and actually make them a fan of his.

Yes, a fan.

Toad had fans around school that would just come up to him and say hi completely out of nowhere because they knew who he was. He'd reached a level of popularity that very few people could successfully achieve, and the way he achieved it was simple. He was just himself. Being a good-natured and well-mannered guy, Toad never failed to impress. He was polite, kind-hearted, and a good conversationist almost constantly, and he always expressed a genuine interest in other peoples' lives.

Of course, possessing all of these qualities, it was inevitable that he would have many female suitors chasing after him constantly. On numerous occasions, it could be overheard that some girl wished she'd found Toad first and envied his girlfriend for getting such a great guy before anyone else discovered him. Actually, they didn't even envy her. They downright despised her. And, after having met his girlfriend on one occasion, Daisy couldn't honestly say that she thought the feeling of animosity was completely irrational.

If Toad was Prince Charming, his girlfriend was the Wicked Witch with a poisonous apple. Of course, he didn't see it this way, always claiming to be happily involved with her, but everyone who witnessed the pair together would instantly agree that she was not the right girl for him.

Tess was her name. A fourteen year old Freshman Toad girl that hid her twisted spirit underneath the facade of a flawlessly soft face, warm brown eyes, and curly auburn hair. With these outward features, she would often appear as soft-hearted as they come. But it seemed that the moment she opened her mouth, pure evil would spew forth and fatally infect anyone that was within range.

"Toad," she spoke up from a short distance away one day when she caught her boyfriend chatting with Daisy in the hallway outside of the gym. The situation didn't look pretty, for Daisy was still dressed in her gym outfit and Tess glared at her maliciously as Toad tore himself away from the conversation and went to her side.

"Oh, hey Tess," he greeted, motioning to give her a peck on the cheek, only to be met with one of her hands grabbing on to his face and pushing it back against the nearest wall. Daisy was shocked to see this as Tess turned to her boyfriend and proceeded to hiss at him quietly.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" she muttered, though Daisy could hear her clearly. "I thought I told you I don't want to see you around other girls when I'm not there, especially ones that look like that hooker you were just talking to. Now come on."

After that encounter, Daisy never saw Tess again. And never feeling quite close enough to Toad to ask why he would put up with that kind of treatment, she simply didn't talk with him about it. Actually, even now, she still thought it was outside of her realm of comfort to ask about such a touchy topic, given that the two just barely graduated into friends only minutes ago.

"Mama-Mia!"

"Look out!"

Daisy had no time to react as a fuzzy yellow tennis ball flew straight at her and smacked her right on the nose, instantly causing drops of blood to drip out as the ball ricocheted off her head. She nearly fell backwards thanks to the force of the hit as she immediately clasped both hands over her nose and mouth, muttering incoherently as Toad looked up at her in surprise.

"Sorry sorry sorry!"

That certainly sounded familiar. Sure enough, as she looked out in the direction from which the ball came flying, the boys in red and green clamored over to her with tennis rackets in hand, hoping she was okay. If her nose didn't hurt so much she'd have laughed harder, but she settled for just chuckling as the pair headed for her and Toad.

"Oh no..." Luigi muttered as he realized who it was that he hit. Both Daisy and Toad looked over at him as he stopped a fair distance away. Playfully, Daisy raised a hand into the air and waved at him.

"Man, you sure have some tough luck today bro," Mario commented laughingly. He ran ahead of his younger twin brother in hopes of finding the ball as Luigi approached Daisy and Toad, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm...really really sorry..." Luigi apologized nervously. Daisy noticed that the boy blushed as he spoke and smiled, lowering her second hand from her nose.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you had something against me," Daisy teased with a slightly nasally voice, making Luigi shake his head immediately.

"No no no of course I don't!" he insisted hastily, making Daisy chuckle further. Mario rejoined the group now, having found the ball.

"Luigi's just a little clumsy sometimes. If he ends up giving you a concussion by the end of the day, we hope you'd have the heart to forgive him," Mario commented. "He has enough restraining orders against him as it is."

Despite the joking tone, Mario was actually serious about everything he said. Luigi did look as if he wanted to say something in response, but he couldn't deny that he did, in fact, have several restraining orders against him thanks to his misfortunate clumsiness. He had to admit, it was probably illegal for him to be standing right there in the park as it was, for someone who filed an order against him could possibly be within fifty feet of his current position. As a matter of fact, he wasn't even entirely sure he could attend Sports Day. When it came around, he would just have to hope that nobody recognized him and that his clumsiness would subside for at least a little while.

"Do you guys all know each other already?" Toad asked, observing the fact that everyone seemed to have at least a little history between each other. Daisy gave a small shrug in response.

"We sort of met earlier today," Daisy explained, causing Luigi to blush a slightly deeper red.

"Yeah. Except that time a soccer ball brought us together," Mario commented as Daisy felt her cheek with a small giggle.

"Man, Luigi hit you with a soccer ball too?" Toad asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow, prompting a nod from Daisy. "Geez dude, what did she ever do to you?" Toad continued, turning to Luigi with a chuckle. Luigi's composure seemed to completely collapse as his gaze dropped directly to the ground and he held his hand to the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"It was an accident..." he muttered with a tiny voice. Daisy couldn't help but feel sorry for him as she witnessed Luigi come under attack by his brother and his friend.

Luigi was, in a word, unfortunate. While his older twin brother seemed to gain all the positive genes from their parents, Luigi apparently got whatever was left over as consolation for being second-born. An unfair trade-off, but something he would have to live with nonetheless.

Mario was level-headed, confident, and very good at just about everything he did, whereas Luigi was panicky, meek, and somehow managed to thoroughly screw up anything he attempted to do. Really, if the two didn't look so alike, nobody would ever guess they were twin brothers, for their personalities were pretty much completely opposite.

However, Luigi did have one thing that made up for his faults: an older brother that loved him unconditionally. It might not have seemed like it all the time, but Mario and Luigi were as tight as tight could be. No matter what, they were there for each other through thick and thin, and they would not trade the time they spent together or their relationship for anything in the world. Although right now, Luigi would easily agree to give these past few moments away for something more pleasant. Like a glass of hot cocoa with a marshmallow or two submerged in it. Or to at least be going through it without having Daisy present.

While Daisy thought Luigi was blushing because he was embarrassed about hitting her with sports equipment twice in a single day, Mario knew for a fact that his reddened hue was only partially due to that, for moments after meeting Daisy and Peach earlier that day, both boys admitted that the girls were quite attractive.

"I can't believe I actually hit her with the soccer ball," Luigi muttered on the way back to the field as Mario looked back at Peach and smiled upon witnessing that she was looking back at him. "The first cute girl I see in this entire school and I physically assault her."

"Don't worry bro, I don't think she cared that much," Mario reassured Luigi as he looked over to his younger brother. "She looks fine already."

Luigi glanced back at Daisy, who was looking longingly toward the ground at the apple she was eating before getting hit in the side of the face by the ball. Luigi sighed before turning back around and found himself staring toward the ground himself.

"I just wish I didn't have to be so unlucky all the time," Luigi murmured. "Who else blows their chances with a girl before ever even getting to learn her name?"

"Come on Luigi, don't beat yourself up over this," Mario said, giving him a pat on the back.

And now, just when Luigi finally began to feel better about the incident, this happened. He'd launched a stray spherical object used for sporting events directly into Daisy's face. Again. He was positive that Daisy would never want to even see his face again after this, and seeing her lighthearted response at the sight of him was surprising. But that didn't mean that he didn't feel the strong urge to leave the site immediately. His heart began to beat faster as he looked back toward the area where he and his brother were previously practicing and suddenly felt the need to get back to work on getting things ready.

"I'm gonna go and set up a few tables," Luigi announced out of nowhere, walking away to get to work before anyone could stop him. Everyone could tell he could hardly stand being in that situation and they all felt as if they had played a part in making him feel uncomfortable in the group. Mario stepped forward as he began to go after his brother, but hesitated a bit to say goodbye.

"Sorry guys, I have to go talk to him," he apologized. "It was nice seeing you again though Daisy."

With that, Mario was off as well, chasing Luigi down in hopes of calming his green brother's embarrassment, leaving Daisy and Toad to stand alone once again. Daisy watched on as Mario eventually caught up with his brother and appeared to begin comforting him. She folded her arms and let out a small sigh.

"Poor guy," she muttered, mostly to herself. Her nose felt slightly better by now and her voice wasn't quite so nasally. "I feel bad for him."

"Actually, it's kinda weird," Toad commented, causing Daisy to look down at him quizzically. "Luigi's a really happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Things like this have happened to him in the past and he was able to just laugh it off in the end. This time it looks like he's taking it to heart though."

"I wonder why."

Because, for the first time, Luigi was infatuated. Here was a girl that he thought was simply beautiful. She looked perfect outwardly and she even proved that she could take things with a light heart. Daisy was able to laugh off being injured two times in one day by the same guy due to similar means, something that almost nobody else could do under the same circumstances. She actually didn't care that Luigi had done this, and it only served to make him even more nervous around her.

Luigi never met a girl that could so easily accept his clumsy nature. In the past he would often get slapped or verbally thrashed for the accidents, and the same result came about so often that he began to automatically expect it over time. In actuality, Daisy not slapping him turned out to be more emotionally intimidating than if she actually had. And he simply didn't know how to handle the foreign situation.

At the same time though, he only felt more attracted to her. Just as her lightheartedness intimidated him more than anything else, it also made him feel a strange connection to her, almost like Daisy accepted him for who he was despite the injuries he dealt to her on more than one occasion. But how could she do that?

The only people that ever seemed to accept Luigi for who he was were boys, for they found his clumsiness to be entertaining and they never minded when Luigi messed up because he always managed to do so in an accidentally comical fashion. As long as he could make them laugh, and he could laugh with them, guys had no problem with him whatsoever.

Girls were a whole different story though. Never once did a girl forgive Luigi for his misfortunes in the past; whether he accidently tripped over his own feet and crashed into one or whether he looked away for a moment while he walked and bumped into one because he wasn't paying attention, girls just never seemed to want to simply let it go. They didn't care that he didn't mean to do it. The fact that he did it at all was reason enough for a slap across the face or a summons for a boyfriend (and, of course, only the biggest and burliest guys in school could be a boyfriend). And as a result, Luigi constantly had to look out for any girls he previously assaulted and their monster-like boyfriends that would fight for them without a second though.

If there was just one good thing about himself that Luigi would admit to, it was that he could make himself disappear like nobody's business. Not a single girl could ever finish calling their boyfriend before Luigi was gone, having jetted down the hallway, jumped over a wall, or stuffed himself into a nearby locker. Anything would do, as long as he wasn't seen by the same girl again for a certain matter of time, allowing her to forget about the unfortunate instance.

But why was Daisy so different? Why did she have to be so cute and why couldn't she just slap him and let him know he had no chance with her? At least then she wouldn't occupy his thoughts quite so much anymore, because there would be no reason to think about her. She would have just continued to be another stranger that he had to apologize to for his unluckiness. But no. She just had to be nice to him. She just had to say it was all okay. She just had to stick herself inside Luigi's head and make him curse himself for being such a klutz.

He never thought so deeply about a girl in his entire life.


	4. The Project

**Cascore's Note: Thank you to MarioLuigi25, Mr Wang 330, Fyras14, and SugarBullet for the new comments. I greatly appreciate the support and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

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**Chapter 4: "The Project"**

As usual, students crowded the hallways of the high school as they shuffled between their first and second period classes for six minutes. Some pushed and shoved their way through the congested halls, trying to reach their next class located clear across the school on time while others stood around in front of their designated rooms, acting as the congestion that the rushing students had to push through. There were grunts. There was cussing. There was almost a fight that broke out. The normal flow of things that people had to go through just to get to their next class. Really quite the laborious task given that, probably about fifty-five percent of the time at the least, these students were headed for a class they didn't even like. But alas. What had to be done simply had to be done.

Daisy knew she was prepared for the day though. Having aced her Algebra quiz just minutes ago, she was ready to tackle whatever challenges English brought her way. As a matter of fact, if she remembered correctly, the class would be starting a project today. About a book of course. Some three hundred and something page novel she would have to read and evaluate over the next few weeks. She wasn't quite sure about the details, but no use in wondering when she was going to find out for sure in just a few minutes anyway. Whatever it was that she had to do exactly, she felt she could achieve it anyway.

Daisy managed to get within the classroom with four minutes to spare. Plenty of time to go stand out in the hallway and watch people do their thing if she so pleased. People watching was always a fun activity. Especially in a high school. Never a dull moment when you're a fly on the wall in these contained pathways. Perhaps she would witness a student yelling at his teacher for no readily apparent reason. Or a girl who was in an established relationship with someone but allowed herself to be subtly cradled in the arms of another. Confrontation and secrecies were always abundant within the school, and always committed in plain sight for all with eyes to see, if they paid attention.

She wouldn't get to witness any of these events take place though. There was someone inside the room that she didn't expect to find, sitting alone at her desk in the very front of the room as the Bumpty teacher sat behind her own desk opposite of the student, thoroughly ignoring her as she read the day's newspaper with a criticizing look peering through her small, round spectacles. Daisy spread a smile across her lips as she slipped her bag off her back and took a seat to the right of the lone girl.

"Hey Peach, didn't expect to see you here," Daisy greeted, making Peach look over at her and smile with a mildly surprised expression on her face. The complete silence of the room dulled her senses enough to not realize that someone had entered.

"Oh, hello Daisy," she returned the greeting. The small penguin teacher glanced up from her newspaper for a small second, finding the girls' chatter to be distracting. Before the final bell rang though, she could do nothing about it and decided to simply try her best to ignore them. "Yeah, I missed this class yesterday because my father made such a fuss about my first day in public school. I barely had time to make it to the gym."

"Hehe, yeah, I get how that is," Daisy said, understanding Peach's situation completely. "It's cool that we have two classes together though, and the same lunch."

"It is nice," Peach agreed as she looked down at her slightly scratched desk. Apparently someone decided it was important to let everyone know that "ass" was indeed part of the English language. They probably felt that it was a word they should have learned about during the course of the class and decided to carve their grievances into the desk's top. Despite never seeing anything like this before, Peach really wasn't surprised. "My last two classes after lunch...honestly weren't so great," she admitted with a sigh, making Daisy raise an eyebrow at her.

"Something happen?" she asked. Peach looked back up at her, and the Bumpty teacher slowed her reading so she could eavesdrop on the conversation a bit easier.

"That boy from our gym class..." Peach began, looking away from Daisy again. "What was his name? Boog?"

"Doog?" Daisy corrected, causing Peach to nod her head.

"Yeah, Doog," she said before continuing. "Well...he's apparently in every one of my classes. We were seated right next to each other for the two classes after lunch, and this morning he kicked another student out of their seat just to he could sit next to me again."

"Geez. I'm sorry," Daisy stated, remembering that Doog was in this class as well. Only having two classes with Doog herself, Daisy found it difficult to remain sane around him before he decided to hit on her the previous morning. Thankfully, that event appeared to shut him up pretty well. But, looking at Peach, she simply knew that the girl wouldn't be able to deter him as easily as she did.

As if waiting for their moment to enter, Mario and Luigi strolled into the room. Feeling more aware now that Daisy stimulated her senses, Peach looked over at the two boys shortly before Daisy did. Peach, Mario, and Luigi all seemed to slightly blush at the same time as Daisy obtained a smile.

I didn't know they had this class, all four of them thought simultaneously. Of course, Peach wouldn't have known about Mario and Luigi, just as the brothers wouldn't have known about her, but Daisy and the boys not even knowing about each other being there was something of a feat. They'd spent a full two weeks in the same class together and never once did they recognize each other before the occurrences yesterday. It was rather astounding how they never discovered each other in the class of twenty-five students, but, really, the situation wasn't a rare one. Students often didn't acknowledge each other if they didn't have a relationship prior to entering the class or if they weren't forced to work together at some point. But Daisy didn't care. An idea sprung to her head and the boys would work perfectly for the plan.

"Hey you two, perfect timing," Daisy greeted with a sweet smile on her face.

"Uh, hey Daisy," Luigi said in return, immediately taking a seat in the very back row, as far away from her as possible.

"Hey... And hiya...Peach, was it?" Mario greeted, pretending to have forgotten Peach's name for the simple pleasure of having her interact with him. When Peach responded with an "Mhm" and a small nod, Mario gave her an awkward smile and took a seat in front of his brother, which was closer to the girls, but still too far away. Daisy rolled her eyes, wondering why they were being so antisocial all of a sudden. Well, she could probably understand Luigi's case. But Mario was just making things more difficult for no reason.

"Come over here you two, I want to ask you something," Daisy urged, wiggling her extended index finger towards herself, indicating that she wanted the two to approach her. Mario got up from his seat immediately but Luigi hesitated a moment, wondering exactly what Daisy wanted to ask. Figuring he wouldn't find out until he went over though, he reluctantly stood once more and took the difficult six steps to the front of the class.

"What's up?" he asked, sticking both hands into his pockets as he slumped his back, appearing to make standing look like the most taxing ordeal ever. All he could think about was yesterday. And he started to seriously hope that Daisy wouldn't bring it up at all during this conversation. Or ever again for that matter.

"Would one of you sit behind Peach and one of you sit on the other side of her for this class?" Daisy asked, taking everyone aback, including the eavesdropping teacher. However, Luigi did feel slightly relieved, for he thought, for a moment, that Daisy had decided it was time to scold him. Letting out an internal sigh, he allowed himself to stand a little more naturally, straightening his back slightly as he leaned against the desk behind him.

"Why should they do that?" Peach asked, chancing a quick glance at Mario before fixing her gaze on Daisy. Of course, Mario managed to look her directly in the eye as she did so, and both of them felt awkwardly embarrassed for actually making eye contact for that fraction of a second.

"Because Doog's in this class too," Daisy answered, causing Peach to slightly pout. Daisy smiled though as she leaned across the thin aisle and placed a hand on her shoulder. "And as long as I'm around, he's not gonna get to bug you."

The two-minute bell rang now and Daisy looked as both boys expectantly, as if nonverbally asking "Well?" The brothers looked at each other for a moment before giving shrugs.

"Sure. Why not," Mario agreed as he stepped back to the desk where he dropped off his backpack. Luigi nodded and went to grab his backpack as well. As he did so, Daisy decided to tease him.

"This'll make up for you assaulting me yesterday," Daisy commented jokingly.

Damn it, she brought it up.

The teacher didn't know what to make of this comment, but it was apparently funny, since everyone chuckled except for Luigi, who let out a small whimpering groan as he picked up his backpack and slumped to the desk behind Peach, his brother having occupied the one to her left. The teacher didn't quite understand what was so funny. As far as she knew, assault was usually a bad thing. But she was from a completely different generation. She didn't know what was "in" with the children now.

Kids. They just didn't make sense these days.

As expected, those four were the only students to appear until roughly a minute before the late bell rang out across the school. With less than sixty seconds standing between being on time and being tardy, students filed into the room in droves; twos, threes, even groups of four entered the room until nearly everyone was present. With only two empty desks, one behind Daisy and the other in the back of the room, it was likely that one student was absent for the day and that Doog was simply being his average barely-on-time self.

However, today, the teacher did something she didn't normally do until the final bell rang. Folding up her paper and resting it on the desk before her, she stood from her seat behind the desk when there were only ten seconds left for any further students to arrive. Knowing that Doog was the type to wander in just as the bell was in mid-ring, the teacher strategically positioned herself directly next to the door to the room, placing a hand on it in anticipation.

As classes always did, everyone kept their eyes on the teacher, despite the fact she wasn't yet commanding their attention. However, her iron fist for silence in the past trained them well, and they immediately ended their conversations as quickly as possible upon entering the room anyway, giving them nothing more to do than stare at their instructor as she made these non-routine movements.

Doog could be heard coming up the hallway, giving his snarky chuckle after apparently just saying his goodbyes to a friend. The bell began to ring and just as Doog was about to step foot into the classroom, the teacher slammed the door shut immediately, making it smack Doog's full body all at once and force him down to the ground roughly. Nobody in the class could keep a straight face as Doog swore loudly in the hallway.

"From here on out, I will have no further tolerance for lateness," she stated with a serious tone as Doog continued to swear just outside. It wasn't long before a teacher from a neighboring class shouted down the hallway at him, threatening to write him a referral if he continued with the foul language. Smartly, Doog countered with a strategic "F" Bomb, sinking the teacher's submarine, but summoning his destroyer to float out and smack him with a large "R" Nuke and calling in his carrier to escort the offensive young man to the court, where he would be found guilty of improper use of the English language and sentenced to three day's suspension.

All "Battleship" references aside, the students couldn't help but find the situation hilarious, and the teacher allowed them to laugh as she made her way back to the front of the room. She even cracked a small smile and shot a clever glance at the quartet of students sitting in the front rows that were talking about protecting Peach from Doog just minutes ago. Only Daisy seemed to understand though and smiled back at her. The teacher successfully blocked Doog from even entering the class at all, spontaneously deciding upon the action as she listened in on the conversation about him. Peach looked like a sweet girl, and even the teacher seemed to think that one could only have so much of Doog in their day.

Once she was ready to begin though, the teacher commanded attention immediately. The students contained themselves as quickly as they could, falling silent as their teacher lifted a small box filled with paperback books. She took one from the top of the pile and held it up for the class to see.

"As you all should know by now, today we will begin our first quarter projects," she announced as the students observed the cover of the book. The illustration was rather dramatic, and rather stereotypical of the classic handsome hero and the weak yet beautiful heroine. With the back of her hand resting on her forehead, the gorgeous Koopa woman in a flowing white dress was supported in the arms of a strong, good-looking Toad man dressed in a white tuxedo. Apparently the woman's legs had given out, for it looked like she was falling into the man's arms.

Daisy immediately lost her excitement for the story. It was obviously a romance. Complete with a suave hero and a flawless (although helpless) damsel in distress. In other words, a dramatized fairy tale. That's all romance stories were in the end. Everything came to a satisfying conclusion, and everyone was happy. She already felt herself losing interest in the book before even looking at the first page.

"You will all be reading the story of _Clemante_ by Toader Smith," the teacher informed. "It is a novel based in the early eighteen-hundreds, a time you should all know of well thanks to your history classes."

The particular history in question pertained to a time in the Mushroom World's past where every race on the planet segregated themselves from each other thanks to a four-way war that broke out between the Mushroom Kingdom, Sarasaland, the Darklands, and the Beanbean Kingdom. During those times, it was illegal for races to interact with each other for fear of the widespread insecurity and the constant threat of spreading information that might work for or against one particular land. Daisy had to admit that some facts were fuzzy to her, but she did know the most important aspects of the war: it was a time of incredible separation and it eventually resulted in the standing alliance between Sarasaland, the Mushroom Kingdom, and the Beanbean Kingdom. Of course, the Darklands would remain an enemy. And with a name like that, Daisy doubted it'd make any allies anytime soon either.

"This story is considered a classic among readers around the world, and, though I'm not forcing you all to like it, I hope you can appreciate it for the timeless literature that it is," the teacher continued. "Who knows, you might even have some fun reading it."

Most of the students silently scoffed at this comment. Like the teacher ever cared if they had fun reading a book for school. She even managed to suck the fun out of a game they played on the first day of class that was meant to introduce everyone to one another.

It was a simple game: the students would spend the hour playing a specialized round of Bingo. The teacher would give the definition of a word and it was up to the students to figure out which word the definition described and if they had it on their board. It was simple enough, and even pretty fun for a time. When someone got a Bingo, they would have to stand and introduce themselves to the class, imparting their name, their hometown, and an interesting fact about themselves. After their introduction, they would receive a pen as a prize and they were no longer required to keep up with their Bingo board.

The students found themselves enjoying the game as they went along. But, when one student wasn't quite sure of the word that was supposed go with a definition, he made the mistake of not only asking for the answer, but asking without even raising his hand. He quickly learned that doing this was a one-way ticket to the teacher's bad side. But he was foolish enough to actually argue with her.

"But I'm just not sure if this is the right word," he retorted after the teacher threatened to seat him in the corner of the class and take away his Bingo card. However, uttering that only made the teacher carry out her threat, pulling the student's card from his desk and asking him to sit in the far corner of the room at a desk that faced the wall. What's worse was that the boy was only one space away from being the first Bingo winner and the word he thought was correct was just what he needed.

"This is bullsh-"

"Excuse me Mr. Harrison, we will _not_ tolerate that kind of language in this classroom," the teacher cut him off with a piercing glare. "Now please, take your seat at the corner of the room."

"Oh come on, it's just a Bingo game!" the boy shot back as he stood up in an attempt to intimidate the short penguin, standing at least two feet taller than her. "All I wanted to know was if this word was right! Why the hell couldn't you just tell me whether it was or not!?"

"Take your seat Mr. Harrison or I will be forced to send you to the principal's office," the teacher said, trying to maintain her composure in the face of her student.

"Well if I can't even get a simple answer out of my teacher without getting a threat in return, why the hell should I stay?" Harrison responded as he grabbed his backpack roughly. "I'll gladly leave. I think it'd make both of us happier wouldn't it?"

And that marked the end of the first fifteen minutes of the English class on the very first day of school. A welcome greeting for the class of incoming Freshmen, who wondered if something like this would be a regular occurrence for the duration of their time in the school. They would later discover that what they just saw was a rather uncommon event on the student's part, but the teacher would always be like that. Every day.

Soon after, she immediately ended the game and firmly established that any talking without her permission would be punished immediately. A few students were bold enough to test her on an occasion or two over the course of the few days after the incident, but they quickly learned their lesson after obtaining a day of suspension and returning home to a verbal thrashing from their parents, who wouldn't stand to hear the story behind why the punishment was given. Nobody dared to speak up to her without permission again.

"This project will encompass a broad range of topics," she informed. "Twelve to be exact. And since there are twenty-five students in this class, that means I will be splitting you all into groups of two so you may work on your projects together. Of course, one group will have three in it, and that group will be Tara, Randy, and Doog."

A few students turned in their seats to get a glimpse at a green-shelled Koopa girl sitting in the back row and to the right of an empty desk. She opened her mouth and furrowed her eyebrows, but refrained from saying anything. It was obvious she objected to this grouping, but speaking out would have only made things worse.

The way the teacher assigned the groups was from right to left from her own point of view, then left to right and repeat until she grouped together all five rows of students in pairs. This meant that Tara was automatically placed with Doog and Randy because she sat next to an empty desk and neither of the boys were present. She slumped in her desk and silently grumbled to herself as the teacher called out the rest of the names, starting in the front row.

"Kal and Sophie will be a group," she continued, indicating the two student's sitting to Mario's left. He looked over at them for a moment before he realized who he would be grouped with himself. "Mario and Peach," the teacher called out.

The pair glanced at one another once their names were announced. They seemed bewildered for a small moment as they both gave goofy smiles to each other before promptly looking down at their desks nervously.

"Daisy and...Luigi," the teacher continued, noting that the desk behind Daisy was empty and Luigi occupied the seat next to it. At the mention of their two names paired together, a look of horror immediately struck Luigi's face. He couldn't help but blink stupidly as his neck slowly turned to allow him a look at Daisy, who turned to take a look at him as well, a smile occupying her face. The two shared the moment for a couple seconds before Daisy turned back to face the teacher, Luigi following her lead shortly thereafter.

Luigi could feel himself breaking out in a sweat as he looked back at the teacher in front of the room. This was just perfect. Only a day after secretly vowing to stay as far away from Daisy as he could, not only did he discover that they had a class together, but they were even partners for the project due by the end of the quarter. How could life be so utterly cruel to him _all_ the time?

But why did he consider this to be cruel anyway? Seriously, Daisy was the only girl he'd ever met that could actually put up with his unluckiness. She was the only one who laughed everything off and continued to speak to him in a friendly tone. If anything, one would agree that he should be ecstatic that she was his partner. She was cute, she could tolerate him, and she was always so nice to him. Luigi even had something of a crush on her, and this was his chance to put that day in the past and try to start fresh with her. But did he really want to?

He was just so used to being disliked and thoroughly ignored by girls all his life. Sure, he had his eye on his fair share of females in the past, but he never had to be around them very often, and even if he did, he would somehow manage to completely mess things up. Hell, Luigi was so bad with girls that he never even had one that considered him as a simple friend before. That's just how life was. He was used to it. And he really didn't expect anything to change anytime soon. But this project...and Daisy...

Ugh, was all Luigi could think as he dropped his head on his desk with a thud, wondering why he couldn't be partnered with the boy sitting to his left just so he wouldn't have to think about Daisy anymore.

"Luigi, head up," the teacher scolded, making Luigi shoot back up into his regular sitting position immediately.

Well, maybe this wouldn't be all _that_ bad. Maybe Daisy would turn out being one of those partners that didn't really act like a partner. Yeah, maybe they would end up reading the book and working on their own parts of the projects separately, only checking in with each other once in a while to make sure everything was getting done. That would be great. It'd really cut down on having to actually interact at least.

Luigi gave Daisy one more glance. She was keeping her eyes focused on the teacher and he let out a minute sigh. He could only hope she would feel inclined to keep her distance from him.

"Now that we all have our groups in order, it's time to draw from the Topic Hat," the teacher announced as she withdrew behind her desk for a moment and emerged with a plain brown cap. She held it upside down, revealing a plethora of folded white slips of paper. "One person from each group will come to me take one slip, write the topic down on a piece of paper, and set the slip aside. I will come around and pick the slips up after every group has drawn. We will go in the order that I assigned your groups. So Kal, you're first."

One by one, a single student from each group stepped to the front of the class and withdrew a topic. They would look at the slip and read the words contained to themselves quietly as they retreated to their desks, where they would show the topic to their partner shortly before writing it down.

With topic in hand, Daisy leaned across the aisle at an angle to show Luigi what she picked out. Luigi leaned in as well, though he would have preferred to simply take the paper off her hands.

"_How it pertains and relates to real life today."_

Both partners wrote the sentence down and Daisy placed the strip off to the corner of her desk. She just knew this topic would be a breeze. Considering that this story was probably a romance, she knew exactly how it pertained to real life. It didn't. Well, unless she brought her aunt and uncle into consideration. But they were an exception. They were part of a lucky few.

The teacher walked amongst the students and collected all the strips once she was sure everyone had written the information contained on them. She returned them to the hat resting on her desk and soon grabbed the box of books.

"We will be spending class today reading the first chapter of the book together," she declared as she walked down the aisles once again, handing the books out to everyone along the way. Once she obtained her copy of the book, Daisy immediately observed the back cover in order to scan the synopsis. It didn't take her long to find the words that confirmed her suspicion of the genre: "star crossed lovers". That was all she needed to see.

The students buried their heads into the book as the teacher read aloud for the next forty minutes. The first chapter was a hefty fifty pages long and they only managed to get through the first half of it by the time the final five minutes of the class had come around. Granting her students these five minutes to pack up and prepare to leave for their next class, the teacher announced that the rest of the first chapter had to be completed before Friday's class and that there would be a quiz on the chapter that same day. Everyone took heed to the words and soon the bell rang out, allowing them to leave the room and head for their next destination.

Luigi stood outside of the room next to the doorway, waiting for Mario, who stayed within the class to talk with Peach about the book and their topic. He tapped his foot impatiently, praying that his brother would hurry and come out before Daisy did so they could leave as soon as possible. He just had to get out of there before-

"Hey Luigi," Daisy called out as she stepped into the hallway and planted herself in front of Luigi with a smile. Luigi suddenly broke out into another nervous sweat as his heart raced and he stuck a hand into his pocket.

"What's up?" Luigi asked, trying his hardest not to let his voice weaken as he spoke, for he suddenly felt an uncomfortable lump in his throat.

"I was just wondering if you're doing anything after school today," Daisy answered, maintaining her cute, attractive smile that Luigi simply couldn't take his eyes off of. He took in a deep breath.

"Well..." Lie! Lie lie lie! Make something up! Tell her you have to get a tumor removed or something! Tell her anything that isn't the truth! "No, I'm free after school today." Damn it!

"Oh cool. Well, I was just thinking that we should get together and read the rest of the chapter with each other," Daisy suggested. "You know, just to make sure we're both in the same place and everything."

"Sounds good," Luigi managed to say, despite his internal struggle.

"Alright, I'll meet you after school then," Daisy confirmed brightly. "Out in front okay? Where everyone gets picked up and dropped off."

Luigi nodded, allowing Daisy to head off down the hallway alongside Peach, who emerged from the class along with Mario. Mario looked after her for a short time with a smile before looking over to Luigi, who appeared to be completely stiff up against the wall.

"You okay bro?" Mario asked, nudging his little brother on the shoulder. Luigi snapped out of his slight trance and turned to his older brother.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he responded as nonchalantly as he could.

It was odd how he could lie to his brother, his lifelong best friend, yet he couldn't lie to Daisy, a girl he'd hardly known for two days.


	5. The Cook Within

**Cascore's Note: Look at that chapter title. So dramatic. So powerful. It almost makes me want to cry. But as I suppress my tears, allow me to thank Michaiah, Fyras14, MarioLuigi25, rereishere, SugarBullet, and hoom for supporting this story via reviews. I greatly appreciate the time given to read and leave a review. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story as much as I enjoy writing it.**

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**Chapter 5: "The Cook Within"**

Luigi stood out in front of the school. Waiting.

Students casually passed him by, paying him no mind as they chatted with their own group of friends that accompanied them. Some of the kids were off, beginning their journeys back into town, while others climbed into the cars of their parents or older siblings to be chauffeured back to their homes. It was a rather busy atmosphere as everyone milled about doing their thing after a long and hard day of cramming their heads with education. Everyone milled about, except for Luigi. Who stood idly by in front of the school. Waiting.

Mario was already headed home, having taken one of the large, yellow, public, low class limousines supplied by the school for transportation. Unlike Luigi, he wasn't obligated to stay after the last bell rang and keep an eye out for his project partner. He was able to simply go home and relax with Mom and Dad. They could probably go out to the park together and spend the day having fun. While Luigi stood out in front of the school. Waiting.

He seemed unable to stand around any longer. He had to move around, to pace to and from an invisible Point A and Point B. He didn't feel well at all, for his heart beat heavily and slowly as his anxiety grew. He couldn't believe he was letting himself get so worked up over simply meeting Daisy after school. It was bad enough that he agreed to see her in the first place, but the wait... The wait was simply killing him on the inside. And he just couldn't control the feeling as he walked back and forth.

Out of nowhere, all kinds of irrational thoughts popped into his head. What if Daisy suddenly decided that she wanted to read the book at her home? When nobody else was around. Curled up on a comfy sofa. In front of a warm, cozy fire underneath a soft, shared blanket...

Or what if she planned to read the book as they took a walk down the trail to Goomba Village? And she lured him off the path. And took him behind a tree and stabbed him with a fork. Repeatedly. As revenge for hurting her the previous day...

"Hey Luigi."

The farfetched thoughts immediately threw themselves out of Luigi's mind as he visibly jumped at the shock of hearing Daisy's voice greet him from behind. He instantly hoped and prayed that she didn't notice the sudden movement. But, of course, she did.

"Did I scare you?" she asked with a small smile as she placed a hand on her hip. Completely embarrassed, Luigi turned to face her, but centered his eyes on a ladybug he spotted on the ground below, appearing to take a sudden interest in it as it crawled along, minding its own business.

"I was just thinking a bit..." Luigi admitted nervously. "You kinda caught me off guard."

"Well, be glad my voice wasn't a baseball or something," Daisy teased, making Luigi's cheeks turn nearly as red as the ladybug he observed. For a second time, she made a stab at his misfortune from the previous day. But, he figured, at least they were even now. He hit her twice, she joked about it twice. Maybe now she would just let it die. He hoped she would anyway.

"Sorry it took me a while to get out here," Daisy apologized, giggling to herself silently as she noticed Luigi's blush. "I forgot it was Tuesday; the day I have to babysit my little cousin. My aunt and uncle just called and said that I had to hurry home because they both had to be at work soon, so I need to get back pretty quick."

The news felt like a breath of fresh air as Luigi was given the perfect excuse to bow out of reading with Daisy that day. The ladybug ended up flying away, but Luigi, now feeling rather relieved, didn't mind looking at Daisy directly. He began to speak, to suggest that they put off their appointment for another day, or, better yet, just call it off altogether, but Daisy soon spoke once more. And what she said only served to make Luigi more nervous than he'd ever felt around her.

"So I was thinking you could just come over and we could knock this chapter out while I look after my cousin," Daisy offered, making Luigi's jaw drop slightly. Daisy didn't notice however, as she'd taken notice of a formation of birds overhead and she threw her gaze upward for a moment. Luigi quickly closed his mouth as she looked back at him. "I was gonna suggest we read at the park so we could volunteer when we were done, but I need to keep Ilys at home while her parents are gone."

When Daisy never asked if Luigi was up for the idea, he felt that he was automatically expected to oblige. He could feel himself sweating as he hoped Daisy would quickly add "Or we could always just meet some other time." But she never did. She simply looked at him for the next few seconds as Luigi forced himself to appear to think about the suggestion. In actuality, he was only buying himself more time before he had to speak, for his heart was racing and he felt that, if he tried to speak, he would throw up on the spot.

"Sounds good to me," Luigi eventually forced himself to say. Daisy removed her hand from her hip and used it to give Luigi a quick pat on the shoulder before turning to begin walking off.

"It's not a very long walk. We should get there in about ten or fifteen minutes," Daisy mentioned as Luigi slowly followed her. The anticipation of her simple touch seemed to stimulate every nerve in his shoulder, making a good portion of his upper arm tingle as he strolled after her. He would soon take a few quicker steps forward as Daisy playfully urged him to walk next to her.

Luigi seemed unable to control how he felt about walking with Daisy to her home. Initially, he was nervous enough to consider asking that he simply go back to his own house for the day, despite the fact that he lived clear across the town. Just the thought of going to someone else's home was enough to put him off, for he'd never even gone to anyone's home besides his own. At least, not without Mario and his parents. But here he was, walking with Daisy, just the two of them, headed for her house. Not only was it intimidating enough that Daisy was a girl. Daisy was a girl that he actually liked. And that was what made Luigi wonder why he didn't think of this as a good thing.

Most guys would probably agree that being invited to a girl's house for just about any reason, especially when she was in charge of babysitting, was definitely a good thing. The house would be completely empty. Well, except for her little cousin at least. But Daisy said she was like four or something, they could probably get her to take a nap. After they got that done though, conditions would be perfect. Luigi's first irrational fantasy could probably come true if he played his cards right.

But that was the problem. While Luigi knew that most guys would be thinking about what they could probably do to get the most out of the situation, his mind track simply didn't work like that. Sure, he could fantasize all he wanted, but when it came to the real deal, he simply knew he could never go through with playing it out in the end. All in all, he knew he was just too shy to even try. And even if he wasn't, with his luck, he figured he'd mess things up somehow anyway.

Oh, what did it matter? They were approaching the front porch of Daisy's house already. The driveway was empty, so it was evident her aunt and uncle already left. No matter what thoughts weaved their way through Luigi's mind, all he could do now was try his best to keep his composure until he was able to leave. He wouldn't try to weasel his way out. He wouldn't try any tricks to try to impress her. He would do what he did best. Luigi decided that he would just treat Daisy like any other friend. He would simply be himself.

Daisy stepped up onto the porch and dug in a back pocket for her house key as Luigi peered into one of a pair of thin, door-sized windows that rested on either side of the front door. He could see a small girl with short hair gazing back at him with a pair of large eyes. She smiled toothily at him and gave an energetic wave as Daisy inserted the key into the padlock. Luigi smiled back at the girl and lifted his hand up as well, giving a less enthusiastic wave while the door swung open and Daisy immediately knelt down to greet her cousin face to face as she picked her up.

"Hey Daisy!"

"Hey Ilys!"

They shouted their greetings with equal energy as Ilys put her arms around Daisy's neck and gave her a loud raspberry on the cheek. Daisy gave Ilys a raspberry right back, but kept it going for much longer, making Ilys giggle uncontrollably as her older cousin eventually settled for rubbing her nose against the small girl's neck. And as he observed, Luigi couldn't help but smile warmly and chuckle. It was obvious these two had a lot of fun with each other.

"Who's that?" Ilys asked through her giggles, pointing at Luigi behind Daisy' back. Daisy turned around, making Ilys readjust herself accordingly so she could keep her eye on the boy in green.

"That's Mister Luigi," Daisy answered brightly, making Luigi feel rather odd. It was weird being called "Mister" Luigi. Especially by someone who was his own age. "Luigi, this is my baby cousin Ilys."

"Nice to meet you sir," Ilys greeted cordially, extending a tiny hand out towards Luigi. With a smile, Luigi grabbed her hand softly and gently shook it.

"It's nice to meet you too," Luigi returned, making both Ilys and Daisy smile simultaneously.

"Come on in Luigi," Daisy invited, turning back around to step into the house with Ilys. "You can leave your bag anywhere you want."

Of course, Luigi would have felt rude simply throwing his backpack aside upon entering the house like he normally did at his own home. He instead opted to carry it a few feet further into the house and softly prop it on the floor next to the living room sofa. He felt inclined to take a seat, but, in the back of his mind, doing that would have felt like he was trying to get a little too comfortable a little too quickly. Instead, he settled for simply standing and looking around the room as Daisy set down Ilys before dropping her bag next to the television set.

"Mommy and Daddy told me to tell you that they left you a note in the kitchen," Ilys informed as she touched down to the ground. Daisy simply stood and blinked for a moment as she took in the information.

"The kitchen..? Ah man!" Daisy groaned as she hurried over to the kitchen, separated from the living room by a portion of a wall ending at an archway. Luigi looked after her as she departed while Ilys followed closely behind. Luigi took a few steps over to glance around the corner and quietly spy on Daisy as she removed a sticky note from the refrigerator door. After reading the message to herself silently, she let out a rather exasperated groan. "They want me to cook again tonight," she moaned as she slumped her shoulders. As if she were a miniature clone of Daisy, Ilys imitated her movements flawlessly.

"But my tummy still hurts from last time," Ilys whined, rubbing her belly as she pouted.

"I know Ilys. Mine does too," Daisy sighed, placing a hand over her own stomach as she pouted as well.

As part of the agreement for letting her stay with them, Daisy had to promise to cook dinner for the family at least a couple of times every month. Jeff and Julie stated that they implanted the rule so Daisy would learn how to cook so she could take care of herself when she was out on her own, but they seemed to forget that she was a princess. When she was out on her own, she would have cooks and chefs to do that stuff for her. But Daisy volunteered anyway. Anything she could do to get herself out of the castle and into public school. Of course, she was happy to be living with her extended family, but cooking was the one chore she absolutely hated to carry out. And Jeff and Julie had to admit, they took a serious risk to their own health as well as Ilys's every time they asked her to make a meal. But they stood firm that it was for her own good development.

However, Luigi just so happened to be a rather accomplished cook himself. As he overheard the girls express their disdain for Daisy's terrible cooking skills, he felt inclined to step forward and offer a helping hand.

"Well, hey, um..." Luigi muttered as he stepped into the kitchen, drawing the girls' attention. "I'm...actually pretty good at cooking. Maybe I could help you two out."

"Oh, no no no, I couldn't ask you to do that," Daisy declined with a rather surprised smile on her face. "You're a guest here. It'd just be rude to make you cook for us."

"It's not a problem," Luigi insisted as he stepped further into the kitchen and looked around, observing whatever ingredients and utensils were directly visible. "I cook for my family all the time. It's pretty fun actually." Both Daisy and Ilys seemed to drop their jaws at the same time as they heard this piece of information.

"For real?" Daisy asked, placed both hands on her hips, maintaining her surprised smile. "I never expected to hear that from a boy."

Luigi stopped looking around and lowered his gaze to the floor as he placed a hand on the back of his head. It was true; often the very last thing on a teenage boy's mind was learning how to be a good cook. This made Luigi a dime a dozen, for he actually cared about making a meal that people would thoroughly enjoy. When he wasn't busy playing some sport with his brother or doing homework, he was often found in the kitchen, experimenting with new ingredients every now and then while whipping up old favorites that his family loved to chow down on.

His hobby of cooking even extended to school, for he signed up for a cooking class that he took at the end of the day. And, of course, he was the only boy in the entire class, alone among roughly twenty girls, mostly Juniors and Seniors simply taking it so they had at least some skill by the time they graduated and left home. The fact there were no other boys in the class at all prompted Luigi never to say a word to anyone, but he felt completely comfortable when they got to cook during class. And his results were always impressive. But no matter how many girls repeatedly asked what he did to make such a delectable dish, he remained at a loss for words, making him unpopular even in the one class where he set himself up to be a star. His life as a cook was a lonely one, and he took a friendly risk by letting Daisy know that he could make a dish pretty well.

"You don't think it's weird or anything that I like to cook do you?" Luigi asked shyly, keeping his gaze away from both Daisy and Ilys, making them both shake their heads immediately.

"Are you crazy? I think it's great," Daisy responded. "Most guys wouldn't bother with it. My uncle doesn't even cook."

At this, Luigi smiled once again and brought his gaze upward, focusing his eyes back on Daisy.

"So what do you say?" he asked, persisting. "I wouldn't mind cooking for you at all." Daisy and Ilys looked at each other, both of them now having their hands on their hips. Ilys gave Daisy a nod, prompting a nod in return. The pair looked back at Luigi at once, who awaited a final answer.

"Well, if you insist," Daisy began, making Luigi nod eagerly. Daisy smiled brightly as she extended a hand forward. "Then you've got yourself a deal."

Luigi accepted the hand, gave it a firm shake, and, before he knew it, he was extracting noodles, ground beef, a pot, a pan, salt, pepper, and anything else he needed to begin making a family serving of his specialty: spaghetti.

Daisy and Ilys watched from stools on the other side of the kitchen island, utterly shocked and quite entertained as they observed Luigi perform even the simplest of tasks, such as snapping groups of noodles in half before dropping them in a large pot of boiling water and chopping up a good chunk of ground beef as it heated up on the pan adjacent the pot. If Daisy wasn't already impressed with the fact that Luigi liked to cook, the fact that he did so in such an entertaining manner while still staying true to a good recipe did.

Salt and pepper shakers flipped through the air and Luigi tossed small slices of onions onto the chopped up ground beef as if he were dealing a deck of cards for a game of Blackjack. Soon, a second rather large pot came into play as Luigi placed it on a back burner. He poured a good amount of thick tomato sauce into the pot and found a healthy green mushroom in the fridge. After chopping it up in a blur of hand motions, he tossed the small bits into the sauce, grabbed a flat wooden stirring spoon, and began moving his hand in a circular motion as he hummed to himself happily.

"Wow, he's good," Ilys admired as she stood on her stool, leaning over the counter to get a closer look.

"I know," Daisy agreed, watching with her hand supporting her head as she leaned forward like her small cousin.

Luigi would have appreciated the comments, but he simply didn't hear them. When he cooked, he was in his own little world, and he wouldn't leave that zone until he was completely finished. Humming, occasionally breaking into a whistle, and working at a steadily busy pace, nobody would have ever guessed that Luigi was actually such a clumsy and awkward young man. He deftly handled razor sharp cutting knives and searing hot food items with incredible ease and confidence. It was difficult for Daisy to believe that this was the same boy who accidently launched a soccer and tennis ball at her the previous day. He was actually starting to impress her with his skill in the kitchen.

After roughly forty-five minutes in the kitchen, everything was put together. The sliced meat and onions were mixed into the sauce with the bits of the mushroom, the noodles were drained in a strainer over the kitchen sink, and everything was combined in the noodles' original pot. Luigi wrapped up by grabbing the wooden spoon and stirring once again, humming the final verse of the song that repeated in his head throughout the duration of the cooking session. Once he felt that everything was thoroughly mixed, he capped the pot with its lid and turned the temperature of the flame below it down in order to allow the pasta to simmer, ensuring that it stayed warm until the family was ready to eat. As Luigi's humming came to an end, he finally snapped back to the world around him, looking at Daisy and Ilys immediately.

"Well, it's all done," he announced rather unceremoniously as he gave a nervous chuckle. Ilys began clapping her hands, soon followed by Daisy. Luigi could feel his cheeks stinging slightly. Nobody ever applauded him before. It was a strange situation for him.

"I think I learned a few things watching you just now," Daisy admitted as she leaned against the counter once more, giving Luigi an impressed smile as she spoke. Luigi scratched the back of his head nervously before Ilys spoke up excitedly.

"Can we try some right now?" she asked. Daisy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I want to see what it tastes like," she added.

"Oh yeah, sure," Luigi said, turning to find the cabinet containing the plates. Once he located the platters, he grabbed two and placed them on the counter in front of Daisy and Ilys. He then discovered a large spoon with a long handle and scooped up a small helping of the spaghetti, carefully placing the pasta on the two plates. Setting the spoon aside, Luigi immediately went on a search for forks, handing them to the girls once he found them. "Hope you like it."

The girls smiled in anticipation as they dug their forks into the pasta. Grabbing as much as they could and scooping the meal into their mouths, Daisy and Ilys chomped down, soon to be greeted by a tasteful sensation of flavor and textures unlike any that they'd ever tasted before. Their eyes widened as they both stared at Luigi in astonishment, who was awaiting their final verdict eagerly. Daisy was the first to swallow her mouthful and allow herself to speak.

"Oh my God, that's the best spaghetti I've ever tasted!" she got out quickly before she excitedly scooped the rest of the sample into her mouth. "I must be dreaming!" she continued with a full mouth. "This is just too good!"

"Mommy and Daddy are gonna love this!" Ilys commented, now bringing the second forkful to her mouth.

Luigi beamed as he heard the girls compliment his work. He didn't have much time to revel in his success though, as he could feel a vibrating in his front pocket. Luigi dug into it and retrieved an emerald cell phone with the name "Mario" displayed on the LCD screen.

"Excuse me for a sec," Luigi said before quickly leaving the kitchen to return to the living room. He flipped open the cell phone and held it up to his ear, still carrying his smile. "Hey bro, what's up?"

"_Hey Luigi,"_ Mario answered over the phone. _"How's it goin' over there? You sound pretty happy."_

"I kind of am," Luigi responded, looking through the open archway at Daisy, who was looking back at him. She waved playfully just before Luigi turned back around. "I'm having a lot of fun over here actually."

"_Not doing anything 'PG-13' are you?"_ Mario asked jokingly. Luigi blushed anyway.

"No. We were just...hanging out for a while," Luigi answered. He knew he couldn't tell Mario that he cooked for Daisy. He would make fun of him for days if he knew that he was cooking for her so soon after initially meeting her.

"_Well when do you think you'll be home?"_ Mario inquired. _"Mom and Dad want to know if we're gonna end up going to McGoomba's tonight."_ Of course. If Luigi wasn't around to cook for them, they always went out to fast food restaurants. Sometimes he wondered if he was the only one in the family that wasn't too lazy to actually make a meal.

"I'm not sure," Luigi admitted. "We're still reading through the chapter. It's taking a while because Daisy's keeping an eye on her little cousin too."

"_Alright, just give me a call if you leave before five. Otherwise we're just gonna go out,"_ Mario informed. Luigi nodded, though he knew Mario obviously couldn't see the movement.

"I will," he confirmed. Without any further notice, Luigi heard the dial tone coming from his brother's end of the conversation. He removed the phone from his ear and frowned. "Why doesn't anybody ever say 'goodbye' or 'talk to you later' anymore?" he muttered before slipping the closed phone into his pocket. Daisy and Ilys made their way into the room with him immediately, saving him the trip back into the kitchen.

"Was that your brother?" Daisy asked as she picked up her discarded bag and carried it over to the sofa, only to drop it once again when she was there.

"Yeah, he wanted to know when I was gonna be home," Luigi answered, taking a seat at the far side of the couch from Daisy and Ilys, who sat side by side while barely taking up one of the three cushions.

"Oh. I guess we better hurry up and read then," Daisy muttered as she ruffled through her backpack, seeking out her copy. As Luigi observed her in her search, he suddenly felt the urge to stay in that spot. He found himself realizing that he actually didn't want to get this over with quite so quickly. His family could live without his food for just one night...

"There's no rush," Luigi spoke up as he dug through his own backpack, extracting his book rather quickly. "I don't have to be home by any specific time."

"Really?" Daisy asked, having finally found her own book. "Your parents wouldn't mind if you came home a little late then?"

...What was she getting at here?

"I'm sure they wouldn't," Luigi informed as he looked over at Daisy, who already had her gaze fixated on him.

"Cool. Then you could stick around for dinner," Daisy suggested, causing Luigi to raise his eyebrows in surprise. "There's no way Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeff would ever believe I actually managed to make that spaghetti by myself. They should get to meet the guy who made it."

Dinner. She wanted him to stay for dinner. A dinner that he made with his own hands...

It was at this point that Luigi realized just how much his awkward nature was aiding him lately. If it wasn't for his accidently hitting her with those balls the previous days, the two probably would have never met. And if they never met, Daisy wouldn't have asked him and his brother to sit around Peach in English class. If Daisy never asked them to sit around Peach, Luigi never would have been paired with her. If Luigi had never been paired with her, she never would have invited him to her house. If she'd never invited him to her house, he never would have cooked for her. And if he never would have cooked for her, Luigi never would have finally realized that he actually could be comfortable and confident around a girl. He probably would have never realized that he had it in him to make friends with a female, let alone a female that he harbored feelings for.

And now, on top of all that, he gets to meet her whole family over dinner. How in the world did someone like Luigi manage to get this far in just two days? It was a mystery. And probably one that would never be solved by even the greatest minds in the detective industry.

Luigi couldn't honestly say that he cared though. He was happy to be in the moment. Sitting back against the sofa, reading aloud along with Daisy as Ilys listened, unable to comprehend most of the words that were read, but not bothering to bog down the process with questions. He was with two new friends, one of which he particularly liked.

Right now, life just felt pretty darn good.


	6. Dismal Interruption

**A/N: Let me warn you right now, this chapter contains subject matter that isn't easily accessible for everyone. It talks about a serious crime and I advise you to be prepared. After reading a couple reviews about the chapter, I thought I should put a stronger warning since this is something that isn't very easy to consume for most. Now then, with that in mind, please read on and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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**Chapter 6: "Dismal Interruption"**

With a deadset look in his eye, Toad was little more than a blur as he sped down the fortunately empty streets of the city in his small, white, two-person convertible. By now, nightfall had spread across Toad Town and most of the normal traffic rush after the work day's end was over. And Toad was just lucky he wasn't caught as he pushed roughly thirty miles per hour over the speed limit. But in a time like this, the law felt like a simple suggestion. He wouldn't allow signs on the side of the road to dictate how quickly he made his way to his destination.

Toad slowed down just enough to safely careen around a corner and narrowly avoid ramming into the sidewalk. He knew that later he would look back at his reckless driving and curse himself for being so openly careless, but right now wasn't the time to think about it; he received a phone call just minutes ago. From Tess. And she was crying. Every word she spoke was dripping with her tears as she ran and talked with her jumping voice.

"_I can't stay here Toad,"_ she spoke tearfully through her phone immediately after her boyfriend answered. _"They came home drunk again, a-and they tried to-"_ Her voice was cut off with a muffled scream and the phone dropped to the ground. Hearing this, Toad didn't waste any time at all. Grabbing his jacket and the keys to his car, he rushed out of the house, yelling the usual excuse to his parents that he was going to see a friend and that he would be back later. Tonight though, he felt he had to tell them the truth when he got back. Things had gone too far.

Every second that Toad didn't see Tess felt like an eternity that she was left to suffer. He just knew this day would come eventually. He only wished he could have known when so he could prevent it.

Nobody knew why things were the way they were. Why were Toad and Tess a couple? How did such an evil girl as Tess ever manage to get together with him? Why did Toad put up with all the crap that Tess put him through? Well, when you boiled right down to it, Toad was her only way to escape. He was her only salvation from what was otherwise a dismal and pitiful existence that she was unfortunately subject to against her own will.

Tess was the only child of a very dysfunctional family. They lived in the slums, which, when compared to the rest of the calm, almost heavenly town, were probably some of the worst, most impoverished locations in the entire world. Those neighborhoods even gave Rogueport a run for its money as far as crime, both petty and major.

Living off of money leeched from the more successful members of their families, Tess's mother and father never seemed to know how to spend the funds on anything more than drugs and alcohol. It was actually up to Tess to steal some of the loaned coins (a task that wasn't really that hard to do after a little practice) in order to go out into town and purchase food for everyone. And if she wasn't successful at sneaking away with the coins and having the pleasure of walking down the dirty, shifty streets of her neighborhood to reach the worn down corner store with oddly high prices for groceries, she was caught and often beaten by her father for trying to run off with the money. It all just seemed like a lose-lose situation. And for a long time, she wondered why she even bothered trying at all.

Growing up in such a family where her father was rarely sober enough to walk a straight line and her mother was often so high off drugs that she became a virtual vegetable when she wasn't injecting herself with something, Tess began to believe that life simply could not be lived happily. She couldn't trust anyone thanks to the many times she was conned on the streets and she was often in a state of paranoia about those close to her.

That was why she was so viciously strict with Toad all the time.

Toad was the first person to care about her, despite the way she was raised and the hard shell she'd developed over the years. Really, it was Toad that pursued her in the beginning, much the opposite of what most people believed; that Tess somehow tricked Toad into dating her and kept him trapped in the relationship.

At first, all Tess ever did was push everyone away. She ignored people, she insulted, she humiliated, whatever she had to do to keep herself safe from anyone getting too close to her. She didn't want to end up with the betrayal that she'd grown so used to her entire life. And then Toad popped up.

He was so freaking persistent. Tess couldn't get rid of him no matter what she tried; he just always came back, undeterred. And he did it because he knew. Somehow, some way, Toad found out about her and the life she led. And, for whatever reason, he actually cared. He actually wanted to help. He wanted to ensure Tess that not everyone was out to get her, that there was a world full of decent people, and that some people actually wanted to lend a hand. But, given their surroundings when they first met, during middle school, where everyone began to feel that popularity was the most important thing in the world and kids were starting to become sexually active, hidden intentions and backstabbing was aplenty. And despite her attempts to reject the rest of the world, Tess took notice of this. It only served to further support that people in general could not be trusted and that relationships, whether friendly or romantic, were all meant to corrupt in the end.

But...freaking Toad! He completely destroyed everything Tess ever firmly believed to be true about society. He was kind. He was true. He was trustworthy. He was the utter opposite of what Tess expected out of people by this stage of her life, and he managed to find her and get her to open up for the first time ever. Toad was the first and only person in the world (besides her own parents) that ever saw her cry. He was the only one that she actually felt comfortable around and the only one she could share her feelings and deepest thoughts with. And he always listened and he always completely understood. Toad was the only person in the entire world that wanted to help and try to ease her pain, and Tess felt an emotion she'd never experienced before and never expected to experience in her life. She loved him.

And right now, she really needed him. All Toad knew was that he had to find her. Fast.

Toad brought his car to a stop as he reached Tess's dark street, hardly illuminated by the dim lights that flowed from the abodes lining the road, for there were no streetlights installed in the area at all. Taking note of this, Toad popped his trunk and quickly fished out a flashlight, flickering it on before he slammed the trunk back down and began running off into the neighborhood.

"Tess!" he shouted as loudly as he could into the relatively quiet community. Right away, a nearby group of three young adults all gathered together, one Goomba and two Bandits, took notice of Toad's call. "Tess! Where are you!?"

"I think the chick you're looking for is over here kid!" the Goomba answered. Without a second thought, Toad immediately dashed over to the group. The two Bandits that stood in his way separated, revealing a sight that Toad wished he never had to see.

Tess lied there on the gutter at the edge of the sidewalk, motionless, stripped down to her underwear. As Toad flashed his light down on her, he could see that she had a black eye and blood was still wet on her lips, inside her mouth, and on her cheeks. Toad simply couldn't believe his eyes, and, inspecting that there was also blood on her panties, he immediately turned to the Goomba that called him over.

"Did you call an ambulance for her?" he asked with an incredibly shaky voice. The Goomba looked up at the two Bandits, who shook their heads rather solemnly.

"None of us have phones," he responded. Without hesitation, Toad grabbed the cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the emergency number as he knelt down next to Tess, his heart ripping apart as he took in her broken, beaten figure.

"_This is the Toad Town Police Department. What is your emergency?"_ a calm female voice answered from the other end of the conversation.

"We need an ambulance on Prospect Avenue in front of, uh-" Toad muttered quickly as tears began welling into his eyes. He glanced at the address of the nearest house. "Thirty-two, sixty-four," he concluded. "My girlfriend has been...raped and left out in the street..."

Toad could hardly keep his composure as he imparted this information. As he let out the final word, he couldn't help but break down and let tears overcome him. His cell phone slipped out of his hand and collided with the ground rather softly as he hunched over Tess, wondering why this had to happen to her.

"_We're sending an ambulance out right now,"_ the phone operator informed to deaf ears. Nobody on the site heard the response. All three of the bystanders looked on in silence, witnessing this Toad boy weep over his tattered girlfriend. They had to admit, they'd done some pretty bad stuff in their day, but this...this was a little much.

One of the Bandits felt the urge to step forward and give Toad a pat on the back, but the sound of sirens in the distance prevented him from performing the action. He glanced over at his fellow Bandit and the two soon nodded. They ran off into the night as quickly as they could, for they simply couldn't let the fuzz see them at the site. The Goomba stayed however, for he knew that an eye witness would be in order for proper questioning.

–

"Daddy!" an excited Ilys shouted as she rushed over to the opening front door to be greeted by her father, who scooped her up into his arms.

"Hey there baby girl," Jeff returned as Julie leaned in to give her daughter a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Sweetie."

"Hiya Mommy!" Jeff closed the door behind them before stepping further into the house. He took in a deep, satisfied breath as his empty stomach let out a low rumble.

"Man, dinner smells great," he commented, looking over at Daisy, who was sitting on the carpet facing the coffee table in the living room. Luigi sat to the side of the coffee table. The television was on and a board game was splayed out over the table's top, set up for three players. Noticing the guest, Jeff set his daughter down and stepped over, putting his hands on his hips. "Well, looks like we have a visitor. What's your name pal?"

"Luigi sir," Luigi answered as he stood, extending his hand to shakes Jeff's.

"Should we be concerned that you had a boy over without us knowing?" Julie asked nonchalantly. Daisy shrugged while remaining at her spot on the floor, looking at the television.

"No, not really," she responded. "Ilys kept an eye on us."

"You didn't catch them doing anything naughty did you Ilys?" Julie asked as her husband made his way to the kitchen, growing too eager to begin dinner.

"Nope," Ilys confirmed happily. "We cooked, read, and played games together all day."

"I'd say that story checks out," Jeff called from the kitchen, having witnessed the set-aside books resting on the arms of the couches before leaving the scene. He continued to take in the delectable smell of the spaghetti and rubbed his stomach expectantly. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually looking forward to Daisy's dinner."

"Way to boost my confidence Uncle Jeff," Daisy called back sarcastically. "But I actually didn't cook that."

"But it's your night to cook," Julie stated as Jeff reentered the room, raising his eyebrow in suspicion. "If you didn't make it, who did?"

"Mister Luigi did!" Ilys spoke up, causing Luigi to awkwardly chuckle as both parents turned their heads to him.

"Is that true?" Julie asked, prompting a nod from both Luigi and Daisy, who now looked up at her aunt and uncle as commercials invaded the television screen.

"Yeah...I did," Luigi admitted. Jeff gave him a small pat on the back as he gave him a rather sympathetic smile.

"How did Daisy trick you into doing that?" he asked jokingly, making Daisy scoff.

"I wouldn't trick Luigi into cooking for me," Daisy said as she stood, placing a hand on her hip. She gave Luigi a smile, causing him to look downward at the ground as everyone focused their attention on him. He wasn't used to having groups of people talk about him like this. At least, not while he was standing right there. It felt awkward. "He was kind enough to spare us the suffering and just offered to do it. He insisted that he do it actually."

"Yeah, and the pasketti tastes really good too!" Ilys added, immediately sparking Jeff's attention.

"Well Daisy, I guess I'll give you your punishment for not making dinner tonight based on just how good Luigi here cooked," Jeff mentioned playfully as he headed for the dining room adjacent to the kitchen, making Daisy scoff once again.

"Good. I won't have any chores for a while." Daisy now gave Luigi her own pat on the back as she headed for the dining room herself. Ilys quickly ran off after her and Julie and Luigi were about to leave as well before something on the television caught their attention. Luigi, Daisy, and Ilys let the news play on the television as they played their board game and right now, something displayed that caught the attention of the pair left behind in the living room.

"_Thank you Johnny,"_ a female Toad reporter talked to the camera as she stood before a scene showing someone being lifting onto a stretcher in the background. _"We are here live from Prospect Avenue in the south side of Toad Town on the scene of what appears to be the aftermath of a rape."_

"Oh my..." Julie muttered as the camera closed in on the Toad girl on the stretcher, who was covered with a blanket up to her head, still revealing her bruised and bloody face.

"What's up?" Daisy asked as she poked her head into the room. Seeing that both Julie and Luigi were fixated on the television set, she decided to step in and see what the commotion was about. Ilys followed at her heels and Jeff soon entered as well.

"This Toad girl was raped and left on the street on Prospect Avenue..." Julie explained as the reporter continued, surprising Jeff and Daisy quite a bit. Luigi was more shocked than any of them though, for he seemed to recognize the girl on the stretcher.

"That's...I think that's Tess..." Luigi muttered gravely, causing everyone in the room to look over at him. Daisy was particularly surprised to hear this, having remembered Tess on their one encounter, but none of her family members were informed.

"You know her?" Jeff asked quietly as Luigi's mouth fell open slightly.

"Yeah...Tess is my best friend's girlfriend," he answered. That explained why he took the news so seriously.

"_Yeah, I saw the whole thing,"_ a Goomba on the scene spoke into the reporter's microphone. _"She was being chased by two older Toads, a man and a woman. She had a cell phone in her hand and it looked like she was talking to someone, but when the two other Toads caught up to her, one tackled her to the ground and the other broke the phone. Then...well, it happened. Afterwards, they left her behind, and about a minute or two later, the Toad boy appeared, calling out here name."_

"_Do you remember what the girl's name was?"_ the reporter asked.

"_Yeah. He called her Tess," _the Goomba answered.

That proved it. Luigi was right. The girl on the stretcher was indeed Tess, and, as they peered into the background at the opening of the back of the ambulance, they could see a Toad boy talking with one of the transporters. That had to be Toad. According to the Goomba, Toad arrived right after the event took place...

"This is terrible..." Julie whispered quietly as she looked on at the event with horror. "The poor girl..."

"I hate to ask, but could you take me to the hospital please?" Luigi queried, a look of sadness occupying his features. Jeff glanced over at him, looking rather awestricken himself as he realized that the victim of this crime was an acquaintance of his guest.

"Sure sure," he responded as he left to retrieve his jacket that he draped over his chair by the dining table.

"I wanna come too," Daisy spoke up suddenly. Everyone in the room looked over at her as she said this, for nobody really expected her to want to go as well. And, of course, being the little mimic that she was...

"Then I wanna go too," Ilys stated, though she didn't know what was going on. Julie quickly knelt down and scooped her daughter into her arms.

"No honey, you can't go," she said softly as Jeff reentered the room, pulling on his jacket.

"Why not?" Ilys asked, causing Julie to shoot her eyes to the television once more before returning them to her daughter.

"Because this is only for grown ups. You and I will stay here and wait for Daddy and Cousin Daisy to come back, alright?" Ilys looked over at Daisy with a confused expression only to receive a nod from her older cousin, silently telling her to listen to her mother.

"Okay Mommy," Ilys responded, accepting the fact that she would not be going on this expedition.

Holding Ilys close, Julie looked up at her husband, who let out a small sigh before turning to Daisy and Luigi.

"Alright, let's go kids," Jeff announced, headed for the front door. Daisy followed closely behind him while Luigi quickly stuffed his copy of _"Clemante"_ into a pocket of his backpack before hurrying out to join them.

The door closed, leaving Julie and Ilys in silence for several seconds as Julie sat herself down onto the sofa, continuing to cradle her young daughter. It wasn't long before Ilys pushed herself away from her mother though, standing on the couch as the two peered into each other's eyes.

"What's 'rape' Mommy?" she asked.

The question froze Julie stiff. She could have had an easier time answering where babies came from...

What is rape...?

How could she answer that to her four year old daughter?


	7. Hospital Congregation

**Cascore's Note: Alright, don't worry. After the shocking darkness that was Chapter 6, I've decided to ease up and bring the lighthearted mood back in this chapter. And really, I think Chapter 6 was the most daring I was planning to go throughout the story, so if you didn't like it, don't fret, another chapter like that probably won't be showing up again (maybe). Now that I'm done defending myself, I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

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**Chapter 7: "Hospital Congregation"**

Toad sat alone in the waiting room, staring blankly at the white tile flooring as his thoughts focused entirely on Tess. It was so hard to believe this was really happening. It was unbearable to imagine what kind of damage was done on the scene of that dark, unfriendly street.

Thinking about this felt odd. When Toad saw a crime reported on the news, sure, he would initially feel bad for the victim and their family and friends, but eventually he would forget about it, going on with his day. But when it was actually happening to someone he cared so much about, everything seemed completely different. Suddenly, that victim was Tess, and he was the grieving boyfriend that appeared on television to shed a few tears as he talked about the case. Being on the other side of the story for the first time, Toad finally understood what it was like to have something like this happen. And a simple news story did nothing to explain how emotionally tumultuous the event really was.

His eyes were reddened. Whatever tears managed to escape between finding Tess and climbing back into his car to drive to the hospital seemed to drain him both physically and emotionally. His body and mind were just tired. It was only seven in the evening, but this event taxed more energy from him than running for a thousand miles ever could.

Toad expected company to arrive sometime soon. The moment Tess was carted through the doors of the emergency room and Toad was forced to sit outside and wait, he called his family. His eleven year old sister Toadette was the one to answer the home's phone.

"_Hello?"_ she answered from the other end of the line. Toad wished she wasn't the one to pick up the phone, for he didn't want his little sister to be the first to hear the news.

"Toadette, tell Mom and Dad that they need to come to the hospital. Please," Toad commanded with a rather quiet, tired voice that only served to make his sister feel nervous.

"_What's wrong Toad? Did something happen?"_

"Yeah," Toad muttered, thinking about what he should say before quickly deciding to stay vague about the finer details. "It's Tess. Something bad happened and I need you guys to come to the hospital and keep me company. I can't just sit out here and wait by myself..."

"_What happened to Tess?"_ Toadette persisted, making Toad sigh in exasperation.

"Please Toadette, just tell Mom and Dad that I need them at the hospital," Toad pleaded. "I'll tell you all what happened when you get here."

"_Okay..."_

With that, the conversation ended and Toad sat back into his chair with a sigh. And even as several minutes passed by, he couldn't believe that he was really sitting in that hospital, in that waiting room completely devoid of any other patrons at all. It all felt utterly surreal, like he was having a nightmare. A nightmare that was all too real and far too long. It was unbelievable. But he continued to wait, unknowing of what would come first, his family or news about Tess's condition. It seemed that both were taking too much time to arrive.

As if on cue, Toad heard faint voices speaking from the other side of the nearby hospital double doors leading into the room. He glanced over, attempting to listen in on what was being said.

"Looks like this is the place," an unfamiliar male voice stated rather quietly. The doors were soon pushed open, leaving them to automatically retract to their original position as three humans stepped into the room. Able to recognize two of them, Toad stood from his seat, surprised.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked as Luigi and Daisy quickly made their way to his side, followed by a slower moving Jeff.

"We heard about what happened," Luigi explained as the three of them took a seat at once, managing to silently choreograph the action.

"Yeah, it was on the news just a few minutes ago..." Daisy added. "I'm so sorry about what happened to Tess."

Toad's eyebrows raised in shock. He didn't expect anyone to see the story until the following day at the very soonest. Discovering that two of his friends witnessed it though made him wonder just how many people knew about the incident by now.

"Do you know if she's gonna be okay son?" Jeff asked, making his way over to the group, standing next to the spot where Daisy sat.

"Um... No, they haven't told me anything yet," Toad answered to the stranger as he stood up and extended a hand, attempting to keep up formalities even in times like this. "My name's Toad sir."

"Jeff," Daisy's uncle replied, bending down a bit so he could shake Toad's hand. Toad seated himself once more as Jeff took a chair opposite of the kids across the small aisle.

"Do you have any idea who would do something like that to her?" Luigi asked, forcing the answer to pop into Toad's head immediately. He knew from the moment he first heard Tess speak before the incident.

"Her parents," Toad answered sullenly, taking all three of his visitors aback.

"Are you sure?" Daisy asked incredulously. "It couldn't have been anyone else?"

"It can't have been," Toad ensured as he sunk back into his chair. "There are a lot of shifty people that live in her neighborhood, but when she called me before she was attacked, she said that her parents were drunk and that they tried to do something to her. And, knowing them...they would do something like that..."

"But... Oh my God...that's terrible," Daisy muttered, feeling at a loss for words about the situation. Luigi and Jeff seemed to feel the same way, unable to say anything at the news of Toad's suspicion.

"It's true though," he continued. "Tess's parents...they just hate her. And this isn't the first time something like this has happened to her. They've...they have touched her in the past," Toad admitted with a sigh, feeling that he was invading Tess's privacy by revealing her grim history. He felt he had to tell them though. Because this would probably be the last chance he had to explain Tess's past before she was gone forever.

"Ever since she was little...about three or four years old, her parents sexually abused her and even tried to turn her into a prostitute so they could have money for themselves... And every time she cried or tried to resist, they just beat her..." He paused as he let out a deeply sorrowful sigh. "This was...something like this was bound to happen sometime... And I couldn't be there to keep her safe..."

Nobody knew what to say as Toad dropped his gaze to the floor. He refused to let tears stain his eyes anymore, but his heart was screaming to let his emotions out. He had to stay strong though. He had to keep himself together, for Tess's sake more than anything.

Before long, more voices were heard approaching from the other side of the door. Everyone looked over to see a virtual bombardment of friends and family as Mario and the rest of his family and Toad's own family entered the room. Spotting the small group that was already present, everyone made their way over and took their seats, all centering around Toad as they gave him their attention.

"We came over as soon as we heard Toad," Mama Mario said as she laid a sympathetic, rather meaty hand on Toad's slightly slumped shoulder. Once she moved out of the way, Toadette approached her brother and pulled him into a hug immediately.

"Mario told us everything Big Brother," she explained, saving Toad the trouble of telling his family what happened.

"Yeah, we all met out front after Luigi called me and told me about what he saw on TV," Mario added, taking a seat across from his younger brother, next to Jeff. "We just want you to know we're here for you man, and we hope Tess is going to be okay."

Soon after Mario finished his speech, Toadette could hear Toad sniffling over her shoulder. She tried to separate herself from him to look at his face, but Toad quickly held her tightly, making her continue the embrace slightly reluctantly, though she knew she should hold it for her brother.

The moment felt like a bit too much for Toad to take in all at once. Only minutes ago, he was left in that room to suffer the silence and anxiety of the waiting room, keeping himself aware for any noise at all. The burden wearing down on his shoulders only served to intensify with every passing second, and a minute that went by in silence felt like utter torture. But now, finally, there were people. Nine people that drove down to the hospital and found his waiting room, that sat there with him, pledging to keep him company while they hoped just as much as he did that Tess would be alright. Finally, he wasn't alone anymore. They were there. For him, and for Tess. Knowing that all nine of these people thought about them enough to drive out and visit made Toad realized that they truly cared. And at a time like this, he appreciated their company more than ever.

"Thank you everyone..." Toad mumbled after a few short seconds of silence as he allowed Toadette to escape his embrace. "I really appreciate you all coming out here."

It was obvious that several of the visitors wanted to say something, but as Toad spoke, the door into the waiting room from the emergency operation area swung open and closed once again as a Toad doctor with a pure white cap and the typical white doctors' attire entered the room, carrying a clipboard at his side. He approached the group with all eyes on him, refraining from sighing as he prepared to speak.

"Well, the good thing is, she's going to be okay," the doctor started off, though his low, unsettling voice entailed bad information to follow. "She's suffered a concussion due to blunt force trauma, which she'll recover from, but only after several days of resting. We don't expect her to wake up until this weekend at the earliest." A few of the visitors let out a small sigh at this news, though they were relieved that Tess would at least be waking up.

"She has a shattered canine tooth and she's suffering some internal bleeding," the doctor continued to the dismay of everyone around. "We can mend these over time, but we discovered considerable damage in her..." The doctor noticed Toadette, and, seeing that she was rather young, made himself choose his words carefully. "...Groin area," he finished rather uncomfortably. "She'll still be able to perform regular functions such as...well, using the bathroom, but...her possibility for bearing children later in life isn't looking very promising."

This news was met with frowns and incoherent yet obviously disapproving mumbles, though only Toad knew how much this piece of news would affect her when she woke up. Nobody would have guessed at an outset, but Tess really wanted children at some point in her life. When she felt comfortable enough around Toad, she told him all about her plans to someday have a happy and healthy family, only to prove the world wrong if nothing else. Despite all that she had been through, Tess knew that happiness was possible, though she frequently had to be reminded of the fact by Toad. And Tess was up to the challenge.

She'd always been told that, with her background and her rigid personality, she never had a chance of starting and sustaining a stable, well functioning family. She was told that she would never meet that guy that could make her smile, and, even if by some slim chance she did, she definitely couldn't raise children that would turn out to be any better than she was as a kid. With Toad by her side though, part of that impossible challenge was already complete. With Toad, she was granted hope, albeit a faint one, that someday, she could lead a happy and fulfilling existence. And now...now it was possible that she could never truly complete that dream life. It was possible she could never have children of her own.

"The important thing to keep in mind right now is that Tess will be alright," the doctor concluded in front of his silent audience. "We'll have to operate on her for the rest of the night before we can transport her to her own room though, so whether or not you want to stay is entirely up to you."

Everyone automatically knew Toad's decision and the group silently agreed that they would be staying at least a little longer that night. After several seconds of silence and a few people turning their gazes away from the doctor, it was obvious that they were all remaining there.

"Well, I need to get back into the operating room," the doctor informed. "We expect to be in there for the rest of the night at least, and, of course, we'll treat her with the utmost care."

"Thank you," Toad spoke up as the doctor made his exit, pushing open the double doors to recommence work on the poor girl.

Nobody seemed to know what to say for a long while, until Jeff's stomach gave a loud, rather ferocious grumble. He quickly placed a hand over his belly, embarrassed that it would make such a noise at a moment as inappropriate as this. However, as several awkward seconds passed, it did inspire a small chuckle from Daisy as well as a couple others, sparking the beginning of a lighthearted conversation to break the silence.

"Someone's a little hungry," Daisy commented, extending across the aisle to pat Jeff's tummy playfully, making her uncle weakly swipe her hand away.

"Well we did kind of skip out on dinner..." Jeff mentioned quietly. The mention of the food waiting for him back at his home only served to make him even hungrier and he could feel himself begin to salivate. Soon, he gazed over at Daisy with something of a pleading look in his eye. "Uh-"

"You wanna go home and eat dinner?" Daisy asked immediately, saving him the effort of talking. Instead, he nodded as everyone watched on, finding it rather humorous that this middle aged man appeared to be asking his teenage niece if it was alright if they left as if he were a child. Daisy smiled just before turning to Toad. "Would it be okay if we went home to eat Toad?" Daisy queried, causing Toad to nod right away.

"Of course," he responded with a bit more energy than he'd had when everyone first arrived. "Nobody has to stay if they don't want to. It means a lot to me that you'd come out here in the first place." Jeff nodded at this before turning his attention to Luigi.

"Well Luigi, wanna come back and have dinner with us?" he invited, taking Luigi slightly off guard, causing him to lightly blush as he looked between Toad and his own family. "I mean, you did cook it for us, I'd think you should be able to eat with us too."

Oh great, Luigi thought as Mario immediately burst out laughing alongside most everyone else there, who settled to simply chuckle as a result of Mario's sudden reaction.

"Man Luigi, couldn't you have been a little more subtle than that?" Mario blurted out past his laughter, causing Luigi to blush a deeper red. "Seriously, I know you like-"

"Of course I'd like to join you for dinner!" Luigi shouted, cutting off Mario immediately, disallowing him to finish the sentence. Everyone was slightly surprised by the outburst, though only Mario really knew why his brother shouted like that as he reflected on the fact that Luigi wanted to keep his infatuation with Daisy a secret. "Um, if Mama and Papa don't mind," he asked meekly, bringing his voice down several decibels. His parents, who were basically an older version of himself and Mario, save the fact that the shorter and more portly of the two was a female, both agreed that it would be okay for Luigi to go back with Daisy to have dinner, as long as he was home before it was too late into the night.

Soon after, Luigi, Daisy, and Jeff all departed, only to be followed a few minutes later by Mario and his mother and father, giving their well wishes before leaving Toad alone with his family. And secretly, he was glad he had this opportunity to be with them privately, for he had a question that likely wouldn't be easy to answer that he didn't want to subject his parents to in front of others. Letting out a deep sigh, Toad mustered up his courage and turned to his mother and father, a pair of average looking Toads who sported pink spots and red spots on their caps respectively, his mother bearing rather long pink hair, similar to Toadette's, only not braided or spotted with white.

"Mom, Dad...I just have to ask," he began rather slowly, tipping off his parents that this wouldn't be quick to answer. "And I understand if you say no but...well...I think, um..." As he stumbled, he let out another sigh to calm himself down. He didn't think it would be so hard to simply spit out the words. He had to do it though. Not only would asking possibly make him feel better about the situation, but, if they went along with it, it meant a much better future for Tess. With a new resolve, he asked quickly, disallowing himself to lose will before he finished asking. "Do you think we could let Tess live with us?" he finally managed to get out, surprising both of his parents as well as Toadette. Toad instantly felt that his parents were going to start throwing out reasons left and right as to why they couldn't let Tess move in with them. There would be no room for a fifth person, they didn't have enough money to feed another mouth, having their son's girlfriend living with them was just-

"Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea..."

...Wait, what?

"...Really?" Toad asked, his eyes riddled with shock. Toadette looked at her parents in surprise as well. Their mother and father were looking at each other, appearing to have a silent conversation amongst themselves about the proposal.

"Well...we do have the basement..." their father muttered. "There's a room and a bathroom down there we use for guests anyway..."

"And goodness knows we couldn't let her go back to her parents..." their mother responded. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones that did this to her, after meeting them several times..."

"They're actually considering it," Toadette whispered into Toad's ear, making him nod slightly, equally as unable to believe the talk they were having. At the same time though, his heavy heart lifted tremendously. Tess's parent _were_ the ones that hospitalized her, and they were already being held in custody after Toad gave his report to the police that appeared on the site. Naturally, they were to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, but Toad knew they wouldn't be let off. They simply didn't have the mental capacity to stand firm in court if they tried to plead innocence anyway.

"Well Toad," his mother began after a short while of conversing with her husband, "We'll certainly think about letting her stay with us. If we can sort everything out, and if she's willing..."

She didn't have to say any more. Toad quickly stood from his seat, bounded over to his mother, and gave her a tight hug, feeling overjoyed about the simple consideration of letting Tess live with them.

She was rather surprised to see her son hug her so willingly. Sure, he hugged her time and again, often enough to be considered slightly above the average hugging amount from a teenage son, but the evident love and thankfulness in this particular one was unlike any other she'd felt before. Toad absolutely beamed and his smile seemed to somehow brighten and warm up the entire room. What was previously a dim, unwelcoming environment seemed to lighten up at least a small bit, as the entire family shared in Toad's ecstatic feelings.

Finally, after everything that took place this bleak and painful night, a silver lining could be found, and it was only a matter of time and persuasion to turn that hope into a reality.

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**Random Note: I just noticed that I end about every chapter with a paragraph that is a single sentence. Hm. I blame catharsis.**


	8. Importance of Imperfection

**A/N: Actually, I was originally just going to hop ahead to the next day, but then I figured that I did kinda build up to Luigi's dinner with Daisy and her family and it'd just be mean to exclude it from the story. So here it is. Really, I had trouble figuring out how to write this chapter since I was just gonna leave it out in the first place, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.**

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**Chapter 8: "Importance of Imperfection"**

Luigi's head was swimming the entire ride back to Daisy's home. As if the events of the day weren't already enough, Mario had to go and nearly give away Luigi's secret right in front of Daisy. And in the panic of the situation, Luigi blurted out that he would like to go back to her place for dinner when he really didn't.

It was one thing to eat dinner with her family after he'd been there for several hours. Luigi grew comfortable being on her turf for a while and by the time they were about to eat, he'd lightened up to the idea of eating with them. But after being out of the house and thrust into such a dismal situation concerning Tess so suddenly, Luigi was thrown completely out of his comfort zone and now dreaded the thought of being around the relatives of the girl he was so infatuated with.

God. Stupid Mario. If he'd just kept quiet and accepted the fact that Luigi cooked for Daisy's family, this wouldn't be happening right now. Luigi would be riding home with his own relatives and the rest of the night could be spent in relaxation. But no. Dumb motormouth Mario had to open his trap...

Come on Luigi, remember that this doesn't have to be a bad thing, Luigi thought, trying to summon up some positive energy as he stared out of the back seat window, tuning out Jeff and Daisy as they chatted about something up front. I mean, it can't be that hard, can it? Just sit down, eat some food, probably talk about some stuff and get a ride back home. It'll only take about a half hour, maybe an hour tops.

But...

What if they ask me about my hobbies? They know I can cook, but I can't tell them about my love for knitting and badge collecting. Then Daisy would think I was a total dork. I guess I could tell them about some sports I play, but that would probably bring back the fact that I hit Daisy in the face twice... Oh, I know! I could tell them I like kids! Yeah, that'd be a good topic. I mean, sure, I've never actually been around little kids all that much, but Ilys is pretty cool. If I just tell them that I love kids like Ilys, maybe we could shift the conversation on to her, the family would eventually drift off onto another topic that has nothing to do with me and I'd be home free! …

But what if...

These thoughts would plague Luigi's mind until he could feel the car pull to a stop. Having zoned out, completely drowned in his own thoughts, he didn't realize that it was time to get out of the car until Daisy opened up her door. Snapping out of his trance, Luigi quickly unbuckled his seat belt and unconsciously grabbed his backpack resting next to him on the seat, despite the fact that he knew he wouldn't be needing it.

Thankfully, by now, Luigi managed to calm himself down enough to be prepared to step through that front door, walk across that living room, sit at that table, and have dinner. It felt synonymous to jumping off that feared high dive at the local swimming pool, if that high dive preceded a fall that would be at least thirty minutes long; to get off the edge, all he had to do was jump.

Mentally bunkering himself down, Luigi was ready for game time. The front door opened and the warm, aromatic air welcomed the trio inside. Julie and Ilys were glad to have everyone back. It looked like they were preoccupying themselves while they waited with the unfinished board game that was started hours ago by Daisy, Luigi, and Ilys.

While Daisy whisked her baby cousin into the dining room immediately, Julie hung back to inquire about Tess's condition. Jeff imparted all the details to her, causing her to furrow her eyebrows and frown sympathetically, though she agreed that the important thing was that Tess would be okay.

Deciding to drop the subject in favor of dinner and lighter conversation, Jeff and Luigi filed into the dining room, Jeff taking a seat at one end of the six-person table, to the left of Ilys, who sat to the left of Daisy. Feeling that it would be presumptuous to sit at the other end of the table next to Daisy, Luigi settled for sitting directly across from her, leaving an empty seat to his right. Sitting there felt slightly intimidating though, for, unless he constantly looked down at his plate or directed his eyes elsewhere around the room, every time he looked forward, Daisy would be right there. And knowing Daisy, she would have no problem looking right back at Luigi if he ever glanced at her, an action that would immediately cause him to reposition his eyes awkwardly.

Why was it so easy for Daisy to look people in the eye? Or, perhaps more importantly, why couldn't Luigi do the same thing?

It wasn't just Luigi though; most people in the world had trouble making eye-to-eye contact, just like him. For whatever reason, looking someone in the eye was like blasting through their personal wall and grabbing them by the throat while demanding to hear their deepest secrets. Nobody liked the uncomfortable feeling of choking to death while being interrogated, but at the same time, nobody ever seemed to know why they felt that way in the first place. Really, what made eye-to-eye contact so impossible?

Luigi didn't have much time to ponder these thoughts however, as a steaming plate of spaghetti was lowered onto the table in front of him, delivered by Julie as she passed around the other three platters before sitting down with her own meal to Luigi's right, situating herself between him and Jeff.

"Alright Daisy, you remember what I said earlier," Jeff reminded his teenage niece as he picked up his fork expectantly. Daisy leaned a shoulder on the table and rested her head on an elevated hand, smiling smugly as she looked over at her uncle, waiting for him to take his first bite of the spaghetti. Jeff was referring to his decision to punish Daisy for not cooking that night based on how good of a dinner Luigi managed to make for them. She just knew that Jeff was going to love the food too much to even remember the threat after he started digging in.

And sure enough, after that first bite, any thought of punishing Daisy at all flew out of Jeff's mind. As Ilys and Julie began to eat as well, Daisy quietly chuckled to herself as her uncle didn't even realize that he never followed through with a grounding or more chores or anything.

"Hey Luigi," Daisy whispered across the table, managing to mask her voice so well that not even Ilys heard her, though Luigi could hear her loud and clear. He glanced up from his meal, mouth full of spaghetti, a stray noodle hanging from his lips as some sauce somehow managed to stain his cheek. "Thank you."

Realizing how foolish he must have looked at the moment with the strand of noodle hanging out of his mouth, Luigi painfully gulped his spaghetti down though he hardly even chewed it. It was rough fitting its way down his throat and he nearly gagged once it went down. He made an odd face, his right eye half closing as his tongue slightly hung out of his barely open mouth, bearing the unpleasant experience as best he could.

"Ya okay o'er there," Jeff attempted to ask through a mouthful of freshly placed spaghetti, having already managed to clear roughly one-third of his plate just seconds into the meal. Luigi coughed for a small while before taking in a deep breath as Daisy simply smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Luigi responded, getting over his dumb decision to swallow such a mass of food without properly chewing it. Shaking off the moment of poor judgment, but still without realizing he had sauce resting on his cheek, he looked back at Daisy, avoiding eye contact as usual as he did so. "'Thank you' for what?" he asked quietly.

Without a word, Daisy stood from her seat at the table. She signaled for Luigi to follow her with the wave of a hand, making him stand immediately at her command.

"Where are you two going?" Julie asked as Luigi made his way around the table and Daisy stepped into the living room.

"To the backyard," Daisy informed nonchalantly. "We'll be back in just a minute."

"Well hurry, your uncle's probably gonna finish every ounce of spaghetti that's left in a little bit," Julie joked, causing her husband to retort with a full mouth once again. His plate was now roughly two-thirds empty, if not just a little more.

"'Ey, it's not I 'ault i' 'is 'ood ta'the great," he responded rather unsuccessfully, for nobody in the room understood exactly what he said. Daisy simply shrugged in response.

"We shouldn't take too long," she said as she led a reluctant Luigi out of the room. What in the world could she possibly want to talk with him in private for? Did he say something wrong? Did he do something wrong? Was something on his face? Well, as a matter of fact, all three answers were true, which Luigi would soon find out once Daisy opened up the sliding glass door leading out into the backyard, lit by a rather dim, yellow light bulb. After closing the door behind her, Daisy turned to face Luigi and leaned back against the glass, folding her arms as she gave him a smile. One that, to Luigi, was oddly quizzical, intimidating, and attractive all at the same time.

"First of all, I was thanking you for being so kind as to cook dinner for us tonight," Daisy spoke up with a sweet yet slightly serious voice. "I realized that I never properly thanked you for doing that, and I really appreciate it. I'm sure my family does too, the way they were attacking the food like that."

Luigi could feel his cheeks burn as he lowered his gaze to the ground, an action that sparked another reason why Daisy brought him outside. Without moving from her spot, she continued on before Luigi could say that the deed was all his pleasure and that he really didn't mind doing it at all.

"And I just wanted to know," Daisy spoke once again just before Luigi could say his piece. "Why do you always seem to get so nervous around me? Or are you just like that all the time?"

Oh crap, she noticed. Luigi could only hope that Daisy never paid any attention when he showed his meek body language around her. Whenever he was around her, he blushed frequently, lost his composure easily, usually slumped, hesitated his speech, never looked directly at her... Huh. Now that he thought about it, maybe his signs were a bit more obvious than he'd originally thought... And right now, every single one of them was showing. That was just great...

And really, she was right. Luigi never acted like this around anybody but her. Around his guy friends, he was the complete opposite actually. He was always willing to talk, carried himself pretty well, and always at least looked at his peers, although not always in the eye. Around his other friends, he was a pretty stand up character. It was only with Daisy that he seemed to be a wreck. And now she was interrogating him about it. What if she knew about how he felt about her?

"Well, to be honest..." Luigi began, sticking his hands in his pockets as he attempted to look at Daisy but failed, looking into the living room through the glass door behind her. Unfortunately, there was nothing of interest to be seen within the room. "I do get kinda nervous around you..."

"Luigi, look me in the eye," Daisy softly commanded, staying in her position as she spoke. She wanted to be direct while she was speaking, but she was careful not to sound commandeering lest she intimidate Luigi more than she already managed to.

Slowly and reluctantly, Luigi forced himself to return Daisy's look. It felt like the hardest thing he had to do in his entire life. Her eyes were just so large and blue, framed within such a flawlessly cute face... Luigi wanted to look away immediately, but Daisy's stare silently forced him to keep his eyes on her. "Why?"

"Why...why what?" Luigi responded stupidly. The black magic of eye-to-eye contact was already deteriorating his ability to control his own thoughts and speech.

"Why do you get nervous around me?" Daisy clarified, her voice growing slightly less sweet and more serious, though it was still soft and comforting. Luigi rubbed the back of his head, another nervous habit of his, as he somehow continued to hold his gaze, despite the difficulty of the action.

"U-Um..." he stuttered, seriously hoping he could keep himself from saying that he liked her right off the bat. "Because I kinda like...I mean, I kinda don't have friends like...uh, like you," he recovered shakily as he could feel himself breaking out into a sweat. "By that I mean...I don't have any girl friends... Not uh, not 'girlfriends' like the kind you date, but-"

"I know what you mean," Daisy cut him off with a small giggle, allowing Luigi to take a sigh as he broke the eye contact for a moment before quickly reconnecting it. "Well if that's the case, then just think of me as one of the guys," Daisy recommended. "Believe me, you wouldn't be the first person to do that."

How could Luigi even thinking of doing that? Sure, Daisy dressed like a boy most of the time, she didn't care about getting hurt at all, she never held serious grudges, and she was probably more like a guy than Luigi himself was, but none of that mattered at all. He thought she was simply beautiful, and no matter what she wore or how she acted, her cute face and beautiful eyes were what immediately came to mind every time Luigi thought about her. How could he picture her as "one of the guys" with those thoughts in mind?

"By the way, you have some sauce on your cheek," Daisy commented with a chuckle as she rubbed her own right cheek, immediately causing Luigi to break the gaze and wipe his left cheek as if performing a mirror reflection of the act. Seeing the red sauce resting on his fingers once he was done ridding his cheek of it, he looked back at Daisy, who was smiling warmly at him.

"That was there this whole time?" Luigi asked, feeling himself blush once again in his embarrassment. Daisy nodded in response.

"Come on Luigi, don't blush," Daisy instructed, only serving to make his blush a deeper red as a result.

"How come you didn't tell me that was there sooner?" Luigi asked, dropping his gaze to the floor as he did so. Without his notice, Daisy stepped forward and placed a hand on Luigi's chin, lifting his head up so he would be forced to look at her in the eye once again. Now their faces were roughly a foot apart and Luigi's heart threatened to pound right out of his chest as Daisy spoke.

"I didn't say anything because it was an imperfection," Daisy began to explain. "Luigi, nobody's perfect. Nobody's going to say or do all the right things at all the right times. Every time I'm around you, I notice you always try to make yourself say what you think I want to hear or make yourself appear like you're the perfect guy. But you're not. Nobody is." Daisy let go of Luigi's chin as she folded her arms, appearing rather firm as she stood before the bewildered young man. This entire time she seemed to insult him and defend him at the same time without ever sounding condescending in the slightest. Luigi had no idea how she did it, but her words stuck in his head loud and clear. And she wasn't done.

"I don't want you to try to impress me just because I'm a girl," Daisy continued. "I should be treated no different from how your guy friends are. I mean really, you've pelted me with a soccer ball and a tennis ball just yesterday, before we ever even knew each other that well. And now look at us. We're friends. I don't think most girls would be able to form that relationship with you under those same circumstances. So Luigi, I just want you to let your guard down when you're around me. I can deal with the fact that you're clumsy and that you're not one hundred percent perfect. It doesn't matter to me. I like you for who you are. Because despite your faults, you're still kind, caring, and fun. So please, just be yourself around me, okay? Just relax."

Daisy knew she was sounding preachy and cheesy as she spoke and was secretly glad to finally be done with the monologue, but she knew that she had to have this talk with Luigi. It'd grown so obvious that he was uncomfortable around her and, for the sake of their friendship, she just had to let Luigi know that he should just try and relax. She didn't like the idea of making him nervous just by being around him; she wanted him to be able to treat her like a friend, not like a judge that was evaluating his every move. And thankfully, her words did seem to strike a chord in Luigi.

Feeling an odd mixture of embarrassment and relief, Luigi let out a sigh as he lowered his gaze to the ground beneath them. A few seconds of silence prevailed as Luigi seemed to mentally reevaluate himself. If only doing what Daisy asked of him were as easy as it sounded. But he was resolved to try. Who knew, maybe it wouldn't be so hard.

Just try not to think so hard about everything you do when you're around her, Luigi thought as he brought his gaze back to Daisy's eyes. She said it herself... She likes you just the way you am. That's a start at least. Maybe I really should just try to think of her as one of the guys.

"Sorry," Luigi apologized immediately, making Daisy unfold her arms and lean back against the glass door once again.

"Don't worry about it," Daisy returned with a smile, bring back her sweet voice. "I just don't want you to have to be so nervous around me all the time. Though I have to say..." Daisy extended a balled fist and gave Luigi a light, playful nudge on the shoulder. "It's actually kinda cute in some flattering way that you get so shy around me."

Luigi's cheeks now had a plausible reason to flush with redness as Daisy now let out a small chuckle. Even she could feel herself having trouble hiding a blush as she uttered the sentence.

As she turned to open up the sliding glass door, Daisy couldn't help but wonder what was going on with her own thoughts by this point. Having him over at the house and just hanging out for those hours before the bad news about Tess derailed the visit, Daisy realized just how much she enjoyed Luigi's company. Sure, the offer to cook for them was nice, but it was during their board game that Daisy noticed Luigi's more true personality; how he acted when he wasn't out to impress.

The board game in question was Dreamland, a board game designed for children as young as three years old, making it perfect for Ilys while still being enjoyable to older participants like Luigi and Daisy. The objective, as most children's board games were, was to be the first to reach the end of the board by rolling dice, using conveniently placed Dream Clouds and certain playing cards that served to advance them further. At the same time though, Nightmare Storms and other playing cards sent them backwards, thereby hindering their progress. The objective was simple and the gameplay was very straightforward, and knowing Ilys, she was able to get into it quite easily. Little did Daisy expect Luigi to take the game just as seriously though.

"Aw man, not another Nightmare Storm," Luigi whined as he moved his oblong of a green game piece back to the very first segment of the board's pathway for an unprecedented fourth time in a row. Observing this caused Ilys to fall into a fit of giggles, for she was only twelve spaces away from the end of the board, a distance that could be traveled in two turns if she were lucky. Daisy couldn't help but chuckle as well, though her advancement was hardly any better than Luigi's. She'd fallen through several Nightmare Clouds herself.

Observing Ilys's near flawless success at nabbing almost every available Dream Cloud, Luigi gave her an odd, suspecting look, glaring at her as he raised a suspicious eyebrow at the four year old girl. "You know, I think Ilys is cheating," Luigi claimed accusingly, causing Ilys to stand up from her cousin's lap defensively.

"I'm not cheating!" she threw back, making Luigi stand as well. The two met at the side of the table and, despite the fact that Luigi easily trumped her in size, Ilys put her hands on her hips in a huff, appearing to have confidence in her ability to take him down. Playfully, Luigi place his balled fists on his hips as well.

"Don't lie; I saw you moving your piece ahead a few spaces when you thought nobody was looking," Luigi responded. "And that one time you rolled a five but only moved four spaces so you could get that Dream Cloud. I bet you think you're so sneaky."

"What!? I never did that!"

"Actually you did Ilys, remember?" Daisy interjected with a smile, causing both Luigi and Ilys to turn their attention to her. "When Luigi wasn't looking, you moved right to a Dream Cloud that you were supposed to have passed."

"You were supposed to keep that secret!" Ilys blurted out, allowing Luigi to call her out on her slip of the tongue.

"Aha, I knew it!" Luigi shouted out triumphantly.

Suddenly deciding to make a scene of the situation Ilys climbed up onto the couch behind Daisy and stood firmly as her cousin picked herself up from the floor.

"Alright fine, I'll admit it!" Ilys retorted with an amusing, poorly done accent usually reserved for the stereotypical dastardly villain. "I did it, see! I cheated! And I'd do it again too! Ahahaha!"

Not one to be outdone, Luigi responded with just as much energy, bringing himself into the same mindset as the little ne'er-do-well.

"I won't let you get away with this! You've cheated me, Daisy, and the helpless citizens of Dreamland, but I swear I won't ever allow you to do it again!" Luigi declared, surprising Daisy quite a bit. By now, Daisy herself was used to these miniature theatrical situations, for Ilys simply loved to play like this and Daisy was always willing to go along with it, but never once did would she have expected Luigi to be the same way.

That made up the highlight of Daisy's entire day. Watching on as Luigi trapped Ilys in a barrage of tickles, she finally seemed to discover his true personality. When he felt comfortable, he wasn't uptight, quiet, or shy. One would never guess that he was actually just a kid at heart, happy to run around and play like a young child.

He was so innocent too. At times one would think that he was simply an older, male version of Ilys, for they had roughly the same mindset about many things; from wondering how the clouds floated in the sky (he predicted that they were just a bunch of Lakitus who were having parties in the air) to figuring out the mystery behind how televisions worked (little people performing inside the box? That would explain why TVs were so darn heavy), the entire planet just seemed like a mystery, waiting to be explored and discovered. Really, Daisy couldn't tell if he came up with his answers and his wonder about the world just for Ilys's entertainment or because he honestly felt that way, but, no matter which explanation was true, there was no doubt that Daisy liked him for the way he was, although it only seemed that he acted like himself when he was speaking to Ilys.

As the pair rejoined the family at the table, Jeff having already finished half of his second plate of spaghetti, Daisy couldn't help but wonder. If Luigi could just always be the true, innocent guy he revealed himself to be around Ilys...maybe he would have a shot with her. Just maybe.


	9. Super Miscreant Brothers Act One

**Cascore's Note: Well, I got just a little carried away with this chapter. It turned out that it was going to be quite a bit longer than I originally expected, so I've decided to split it up into two parts. I pretty much took a detour from our main characters for a while to focus on a pair of antagonists (who you can probably guess just by reading the title) and got so wrapped up in their back story that I've made it into an entire two-part mini-story altogether... So yeah. Sorry if you dislike these two characters, but I do attempt to answer how they meet in the first place, and I've decided to have them appear in future installments that share the same core title as this one ("Super Miscreant Brothers Act *number*). It might be fun as a small series of misadventures that weave into the main story from time to time that star a duo that I personally love to write about.**

**But anyway, enough of my ranting. Please read the chapter and I do hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: "Super Miscreant Brothers Act One: Partners in Crime"**

Finally, after two days of pleading to her father, Peach was allowed to travel home by foot at last. It was so embarrassing having to climb into that incredibly conspicuous black limo those past two days, especially considering the fact that there was a Toad escort in a black tuxedo and shades standing right next to it just waiting for her to appear. And both times she approached, she had to quickly shush the Toad up, for it was apparently chiseled into his brain that every time he addressed Peach, he _had_ to tag on the title "Princess".

"We can't let people know that I'm the princess," she whispered both times, though nearby students seemed to think that "Princess" was a joking title to go along with Peach's blatant display of her apparent high position in society. And unfortunately for Peach, some of these students simply had to address the scene that played out before them.

"Well hurry along 'Princess', we don't want to be late for tea time," one student snarkily teased on Peach's first day of school, causing her to blush intensely as she reluctantly climbed into the back seat of the limo.

What was her father thinking, making her ride home in such a vehicle right in front of so many other people who either walked, took regular cars, or rode those big yellow buses. Peach knew that the limo would draw unwanted and unneeded attention to herself, but King Toadstool seemed completely oblivious as to why his daughter was so upset with the service.

"But you love limousines Peach," her father responded, shocked that his daughter was actually opposed to the idea of being driven home in one. "I don't understand why you're so upset."

"Because Father, limousines aren't everyday vehicles to travel in," Peach explained with a sigh, lingering on the thought of the rude comment made to her earlier that day. "It's just not normal to be taken to and from school in them."

"Peach, you're not just a normal girl," King Toadstool began with a rather soft voice. "You're the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. You only deserve the best in life...though you did choose to go to a commoner's school."

"They're not commoners Father," Peach retorted, expressing a hatred for the word. "They're people, just like you and me. Just because they don't live in a castle or have money to spend on luxuries like limousines to take them to and from school doesn't mean they're not living beings."

"I'm sorry Peach, I forgot you dislike the word," Toadstool apologized, though remorselessly. "But that won't stop me from sending an escort to bring you home. I want to ensure your safe passage and the only vehicle worthy of transporting you is a limousine. Nothing else will do."

"Then let me walk," Peach suggested quickly, making her father raise both eyebrows in disbelief. "If I can't take a more subtle car home, then I want to walk."

"Nonsense," King Toadstool denied immediately. "I've already allowed you to attend a...public school," he chose his words carefully, "And now you wish to walk home on your own? This must be that rebellious stage in life I've been told about. I'd never expected such behavior from you though. But regardless, I won't bend my will yet again. You will continue to be escorted home in a limousine; no ifs, ands, or buts about it."

It was obvious her father wouldn't budge on the subject, much to Peach's displeasure. And despite her further attempts throughout the rest of the day, he would hear no more on the subject.

However, she did have a plan that she would initiate the following day. A plan that never once failed in all fourteen years of her life.

King Toadstool was by no means a heartless father, despite the fact he was quick to turn down Peach's request. It was his nature to be strict and to keep a close eye on his daughter, but, of course, there was one flaw in the his otherwise solid personality; the same flaw that most parents that honestly cared about their children possessed.

After returning home from school the next day, Peach didn't even speak to her father upon entering the castle, walking right past him but ensuring that he noticed a tear rolling down her cheek as she sniffled and made her way upstairs and directly to her room. That was all Peach had to do to set the bait and completely tear down her father's defenses. As he watched her go, completely astounded by her behavior, the Toad escort charged with bringing her back in the limo walked up to the king's side.

"The princess was very distraught when she boarded the limousine Your Highness," the escort informed as the king continued to look forward, though he was listening. "She seemed to be keeping herself from crying the entire way back."

Peach would have thanked the Toad for throwing in that little tidbit; it only added to the effect it had on King Toadstool as he let out a small inward sigh shortly after the escort departed. How could he possibly sit there and just observe as his daughter appeared to be so distressed? She was his little girl, despite the technical fact she was fourteen and therefore blossoming into a young woman. The truth was, no matter how old she grew, she would ALWAYS be his little girl. And as such, she would always have this godforsaken power of persuasion that only a child could muster from their parents. Not wanting to see his daughter cry though, it was immediately decided that he would go up to her room, see what it was that distressed her, and do whatever he could to alleviate the problem.

The rest, as they say, was history.

"He asked me what was wrong, I told him that kids were picking on me for riding in limos all the time, and eventually I was able to make him believe that walking was a fine way for me to get back home," Peach explained happily to an amused Daisy as they walked down the sunny streets of Toad Town with no particular destination in mind just yet.

"Man Peach, I didn't know you could be so cunning," Daisy complimented, making Peach chuckle slightly.

"Well everything I told him were facts anyway," Peach confirmed as she recalled her reasons from the previous day. "I _was_ being picked on, the castle's not that terribly far from school, and walking is healthier for me, not to mention a great way to look around the city firsthand. I just had to make myself cry so he'd listen. You don't think it's wrong that I sort of tricked him into letting me walk though do you?"

"No way. It's a lot better than what I had to do to my dad when I convinced him to let me go to public school," Daisy commented. "So do you think you'll be allowed to walk like this every day?"

"I hope so," Peach responded, clasping her hands behind her back as she looked at her surroundings. "It's so rare I get to go about the town without a guardian breathing down my neck. It's so much more fun and relaxing to just walk with a friend."

Daisy smiled warmly at this comment as she began to look around as well. The pair found themselves walking down a road with no sidewalks and a rather narrow street. Fortunately, the neighborhood seemed rather desolate; neither girl had spotted a single car for quite some time. As a matter of fact, they'd not even seen other people for a while either.

The neighborhood felt barren. The houses were worn down, most of the grass resting in yards was dead, and, no matter how hard they looked, not a soul was in sight. Wondering exactly where they'd managed to stumble into, Daisy inspected a nearby street sign and read a name that she remembered hearing on the news last night.

"Prospect Avenue," Daisy muttered to herself, attracting Peach's attention.

"It certainly is a run down neighborhood by the look of things..." Peach observed, rather awestricken that neighborhoods such as this existed in the town. Having never seen any part of the city aside from areas near the castle, Peach assumed that all of Toad Town was virtually the same; a prosperous community with well-to-do families and nice housing everywhere. That certainly could not be said about this street however.

"This is where Toad's girlfriend was attacked last night," Daisy informed, causing Peach's eyes to grow wide as she cupped her hands over her mouth.

"Really?" she asked, prompting a nod from Daisy, who was looking to see if she could recognize the spot where the newscast had taken place. "Oh my... I can't believe I haven't heard about this. It doesn't happen very often, but every crime that is committed is reported to my father immediately, and he always informs me about what happened. Even so, why wouldn't Toad say anything about it? He seemed completely fine today. Is he worried at all?"

"Toad's taking it really well," Daisy said, giving up her search and simply settling to look over at her friend, who appeared to have sorrowful eyes as she listened. "He wasn't all that great last night, but we did find out that his girlfriend's going to be okay and that she should be awake from her coma by the weekend. That's probably what he's focusing on right now."

"Goodness...a coma...?" Peach mumbled, lowering her gaze to the ground for a moment, allowing a few small seconds of silence to pass before looking upward once again. "What happened exactly?"

Daisy slightly refrained from telling Peach right off the bat. She didn't like to think about the crime herself and it would certainly bear down on Peach for a time to come as well. Figuring the girl had a thirst for knowledge after having the information withheld from her though, Daisy decided she may as well tell her the truth.

"Well...she was raped," Daisy answered uneasily, causing Peach to gasp as she placed her hands over her mouth once again.

"Who would do such a thing?" Peach asked after a couple seconds, lowering her hands from her mouth slowly.

"An eye witness says he saw a male and a female Toad chasing her, and they were both adults," Daisy informed, now leaning against the street signs and silently observing that the entire street was still completely empty. "And Toad says that it had to be her parents that did it. They're the only suspects, and it doesn't sound like they'll last long before being put in jail."

"Gosh..." Peach muttered quietly, looking down at the grey road once again. She now allowed a long moment of silence to pass, going ten seconds before coming to a realization. "It's so much different when a crime affects someone you know personally," she admitted, looking off in the direction of the castle, which could be seen quite a distance away. "And seeing the town for how it really is...just walking through it on my own...it makes me want to do something." She then looked back up the road, at the worn down, empty neighborhood. "I want to be able to help."

"Good," Daisy said with a smile, giving Peach a confident pat on the shoulder and drawing her attention. "Then that makes us both ready to step up and become the new queens. You know, whenever that day comes. And to think our dads thought that letting us go to a public school was a bad idea."

"It's certainly opened my eyes up to the world much more than being confined to the castle has," Peach agreed as she looked up the street once again. Still, there was absolutely nothing in sight.

It seemed like the more time that passed by without any activity on the street, the more Peach was urged to demand that her father do something to help the poor neighborhood get back on its feet. Before she could come up with a proper approach for the proposition though, Daisy's cell phone was heard ringing from inside one of her front pockets. Digging into her pocket to extract the phone, she gazed at the caller ID and obtained a pleasantly surprised look on her face.

"Wow, I didn't expect Luigi to actually call so soon after I gave him my number," Daisy commented with a smile, referring to an instance during lunch earlier in the day:

Luigi once again launched a soccer ball towards Daisy's and Peach's table, but, fortunately, this time the sphere didn't make contact with anyone. Once Luigi ran over to retrieve the ball while tossing a friendly greeting to the two girls, Daisy caught him completely off guard by asking to exchange phone numbers. Wavering for a moment before remembering the talk he and Daisy had the previous night, Luigi gave in and decided to input his number into her phone while she put hers into his. It was truly surprising that Luigi would be the first to utilize the number though, considering his slight reluctance to give it in the first place.

Flipping the phone open and holding it up to her ear, Daisy was stopped from making a greeting as she heard Luigi say something on the other end, apparently unknowing that Daisy could now hear him.

"_If it rings one more time I'm hanging- ...Wait, it stopped,"_ Luigi said from the other end of the line, causing Daisy to smile and force herself to restrain from chuckling.

"_Well say something to her,"_ Daisy could hear Mario say in the background.

"_I don't know if she's there though... Um...hello?"_ Luigi finally managed to say, speaking directly into the phone for the first time since Daisy answered.

"Hey Luigi!" Daisy responded energetically, figuring he was still a bit nervous about talking to her.

"_Oh, um, hey Daisy,"_ Luigi stuttered, attempting to recover from his earlier babbling. _"Are you up to anything right now?"_

"Not really," Daisy answered, looking over at Peach with a smile. "Peach and I are just walking around right now."

"_Oh, Peach is with you?" _Luigi asked, no doubt sparking the interest of his nearby brother. _"That's perfect. Mario and I are at the park on the tennis courts; we just finished setting it up. So I was just thinking I should give you a call to see if you wanted to come play a few games with us. And Peach can come too if she wants."_

"Sounds good to me," Daisy responded. "Hold on a sec, I'll see if Peach wants to come." Holding the phone against her shoulder to disallow their voices to be heard by Luigi, Daisy inspected Peach's quizzical look. "Luigi just asked if we wanted to go to the park and play tennis with him."

Peach appeared to think before a moment before gazing off towards the castle in the distance. "I don't know. I should probably head home. Father might begin to worry."

"You sure?" Daisy persisted. "Mario's there too. We could play a few doubles games. It'd be fun."

At the mention of Mario's name, Peach immediately looked back at Daisy, unconsciously widening her eyes ever so slightly, a dead giveaway of her excitement at the thought of seeing the brother in red.

"Well...I suppose it would be okay," Peach answered. "I would feel bad unless I let Father know first though... Could we stop by and tell him before we go to the park? It's not terribly far from the castle."

"Sure thing," Daisy responded with a smile before lifting the phone back to her ear happily as Peach looked off towards the castle once again. "Hey Luigi?"

"_I'm here,"_ Luigi returned, assuring he was still paying close attention to the phone.

"Peach and I will be there in about an hour tops, okay?" Daisy informed vaguely. "We have to stop somewhere first. Think you can wait around that long?"

"_Sure,"_ Luigi responded. _"There's still a lot to work on out here anyway. We can pass the time."_

"Alright, see you then," Daisy affirmed, prompting a _"Bye."_ from Luigi just before closing her cell phone, thus ending the conversation. Tucking the phone away into her pocket, Daisy looked over at Peach with a smile. "Well, let's get going. This'll be good practice for Sports Day this weekend."

Peach simply nodded in response as she walked alongside Daisy, headed back through town towards the castle resting on the far end roughly a mile and a half away. Thankfully the park was only a ten minute walk from the castle, a thought both girls kept in mind as they headed off.

Little did they know that the street they lingered about on wasn't quite as empty as it appeared to be. Without the notice of the two princesses, a pair of teenage boys, both the age of sixteen, stood watch nearby, cleverly hidden behind the one decently sized, healthy bush on the street.

One of the boys was a short, rather grotesquely overweight young man who wore a blue jean jacket with ripped off sleeves over a long-sleeved blue shirt. Atop his head was a leather helmet with a light blue "W" stitched on the front and had a pair of goggles attached to it and his rather tight jeans were a light shade of purple. A pair of yellow gloves that cut off halfway up his fingers finished off his ensemble.

The much taller, much skinnier and lankier boy standing next to him sported a simpler outfit, choosing a purple turtleneck and a pair of black pants, simple white gloves to cover his hands and a purple hat with a yellow inverted "L" stitched into a white circle resting on his head.

Despite the fact the boys weren't actual brothers, their facial features looked strikingly similar: they both had large eyebrows and wore blue mascara on the sides of their eyes (nobody knew why), and both were beginning to refine their mustaches, shaping them into two "W"'s and to slightly extended "L"'s respectively. They both had harsh eyes, long, slightly pink noses protruding from the center of their faces, and their mouths were quite large, a feature that became apparent once they laughed, which they did often. As a matter of fact, they were doing it right then.

"Queens huh?" the shorter of the two muttered with a hideous laugh as he stood up straight, barely emerging his head above the top of the bush.

"That brunette girl did call the blond one 'Peach'," the taller boy observed as he stood himself, extending a full two feet about the bush, easily dwarfing the boy as his side. "And Peach _is_ the name of the princess."

"How do you know that?" the short one asked, recalling the fact that the princess was only ever called "Princess Toadstool" in public. People didn't even know the king's first name, for it was never uttered outside of the castle. The tall boy responded with a toothy smile as he stroked his mustache.

"I have my ways," he answered before looking off down the road. By now, the girls had disappeared, and they were truly alone. "Wish we could have heard the brunette girl's name, but we know her friend is the princess. And you know what that means," he said with a sly glance as his shorter companion chuckled mischievously while slowly shaking his head.

"No." The tall one smacked the short one in the back of the head swiftly, though the fat one didn't seem to recoil from the impact at all.

"It means she _has_ to be loaded," the tall one explained with a grumble, making the short boy suddenly smile with a greedy brightness. "If we could snag the princess's purse, I bet there'd be tons of cash and valuable stuff inside."

The pudgier of the pair seemed to drift off to a fantasy land as he thought about just what valuable items could be found in a princess's purse and evaluated how much said items could be worth.

A tube of lipstick that was made with solid gold? Five hundred coins easy!

A piece of jewelry she stowed away for a while for safe keeping? Eight hundred right there!

And who knew what was in her actual coin purse. Hundreds, probably thousands of flat out coins. Sitting. Waiting. Begging to be stolen and spent on that motorcycle the boy had his eye on for quite some time. Sure, he already had a scooter, by that wasn't nearly as manly or speedy enough for his tastes.

The motorcycle in question was yellow with patterns of red flames painted across it, a perfect example of manliness in its prime. It was bulky, it was loud, and it was a ten thousand coin purchase. A staggering price for a high school dropout with no job and a family that wasn't anywhere near willing enough to shed such coinage on their delinquent of a son. And they made it known that they weren't shelling out that kind of cash as soon as the boy showed interest in the bike.

"You're not getting that motorcycle Wario," his father would say after Wario pointed it out. "You should be lucky you have a scooter. Lord knows you don't even deserve that, so be glad to have it."

"Whatever," Wario would respond, continuing to look back at the bike as they passed by.

Every single day, Wario would go back to that same dealership and just stare at the bike. He would imagine himself riding it all around town, through the continent, all around the world, leaving what few cares he had in the wind behind him as he sped along. Having that bike was his only dream, his only aspiration. It was the first true passion in his life; he even went so far as to buy the biker gear he wore that very day in simple anticipation of possibly getting to ride the motorcycle someday. And if he had anything to say about it, "someday" would be as soon as possible. For, he figured, if he pestered his father enough, he would eventually crack and get him the bike. Wario's family was pretty well off after all. They had money to spend. So why not spend it on something cool?

Wario wasn't expecting the argument to escalate so dramatically on the night his father finally exploded though...

"That's enough Wario!" his father shouted angrily, surprising his nearby wife who was busy cooking dinner for the family of three. "I'm getting sick and tired of you asking for that motorcycle! I will not repeat myself after this! You, are, _not_, getting, that, bike!!"

"Oh come on you tightwad, you make loads of money!" Wario shouted back, much to the displeasure of his poor mother, who continued to cook silently in the background. "It's not like the motorcycle is gonna make _that_ much of a freakin' dent in your wallet!"

"Well _excuse me_ for going out and _working_ for a living!" his father retorted. "Money doesn't just grow on trees Wario! It doesn't just fall from the sky! I've _earned_ this money with years of education and hard work, effort that you'll _never_ get a handle of in your entire life! You gave up on _high school_ for God's sake! What do you expect to do with the rest of your life when you leave home and leave the comfort of my paycheck!?"

"Chester..." the man's wife would mutter, feeling that the comments were uncalled for. Wario wouldn't stand for being defeated though as he stupidly made a declaration that would alter his entire life.

"I don't need you or your paycheck you old bastard; I could make it on my own if I wanted to."

"Oh really?" Chester said, folding his arms as he glared at his spoiled, rotten son. Wario nodded in response. "If you're really so confident that you could live without me and your mother...then you have fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes for what?" Wario spat.

"To pack whatever you think you need to survive and to get out of this house," his father replied, shocking both his wife and Wario himself.

"Chester please..." his wife spoke up again, a little louder this time.

"No Claire, I'm getting sick of his attitude," Chester declared, keeping his eyes on his son. "He drops out of high school, he treats us like we're nothing, he demands everything in the world, and now he claims that he can actually take care of himself. Well, I'd like to see him do it. It'd be the first respectful thing he ever accomplished."

"Fine, I'll leave," Wario accepted the challenge without a second thought, surprising his mother, though his father seemed to smirk. "I'll pack my crap and get outta here."

"Wario! Wario wait!" Claire called in vain just before hearing her son slam his door upstairs, beginning to pack up a bag of essentials. The distressed mother immediately turned to her husband, smacking him on the chest with the back of her hand angrily. "What the _hell_ are you thinking!?" she hissed, sourly disappointed in her husband's immature way of dealing with the situation. "You're making our only son leave the house!"

"I'm not 'making' him do anything Claire," Chester responded with a confident smirk. "He's just being stubborn. I mean really, do you think he can even make it through the night before coming back? He just needs to learn a lesson in respect and humble himself a bit, and this will teach him that the world isn't going to hand him everything he wants on a silver platter."

"I don't care if he needs to learn a lesson, I don't want my son on the streets trying to fend for himself," Claire responded. "We're his parents. We're supposed to take care of him and make his life more comfortable."

"You can't deny that he's taking us for granted," Chester retorted. "All we ever do for the boy is give and give, and he never once appreciates what we do for him; he just keeps asking for more. He only sees us as an endless supply of money. He needs to learn that it's not so easy to make ends meet."

"Later," Wario called back to his parents unceremoniously as he approached the front door of the house. Neither parent expected him to be packed and to leave so quickly, but before either of them could say a word, the door was closed, Wario's scooter could be heard starting up, and their son was officially out of their lives. And little did they expect him to be gone for good.

Admittedly, it wasn't easy going for the first day or so. Only carrying twenty coins on his person and a minimal amount of clothes to change into (he'd only packed two yellow shirts, two pairs of purple pants, and some purple suspenders), Wario hardly had enough money to afford a single meal at a restaurant; a meal he gulped down quickly and greedily and that hardly satisfied his bulky girth for the remainder of the day. By the morning after leaving home, Wario was already wondering what in the world he was going to do to keep himself sustained. He doubted he'd be able to even last the day without starving if he couldn't find food somewhere.

It was when Wario was presented with the classic scenario of a freshly baked pie cooling off on an open window sill that he met someone who would soon become his partner in crime: Waluigi.

The meeting was a rocky one of course, as both boys sneaked up to the sill at the same time, approaching from opposite sides of the window, while looking in different directions to make sure nobody was watching them commit the act of lifting the delectable pie. They both glanced up into the open window at exactly the same time, giving a double take as they realized that someone else was trying to take the pie. This immediately led to physical confrontation as Waluigi, with his long, surprisingly powerful legs, connected the bottom of his shoe with the side of Wario's pudgy face, roughly knocking him back a few feet.

"Outta my way fatso, this pie's mine," Waluigi grumbled as he went to grab the succulent delight. Wario was quick to respond however, immediately charging at the lanky thief and whacking him across the face with a closed, rock-hard fist, sending the boy in purple to the ground and away from the pie.

"Screw you, I haven't eaten in a whole day," Wario replied, going to grab the pie for himself. It wasn't long before Waluigi got to his feet and leaped over to him though, using both arms to pin Wario up against the wall.

"Please, you have enough fat to last a year easy!" Waluigi insulted, making Wario push the boy off with impressive force.

"It's muscle! And I just like to layer my clothing!" Wario shot back, adding the extra bit after glancing as his admittedly blubbery belly.

The end result was inevitable. Having insulted Wario's stature directly, Waluigi dragged himself into a fistfight in the backyard of a random house that belong to somebody that neither boy knew. They both forgot all about the pie they were originally fighting for and turned the confrontation into a personal battle, throwing insults just as often as punches.

The scuffle persisted for several minutes, neither boy ever seeming to run out of energy or fighting spirit. It was only when the well-renowned cook Tayce T. poked her head through the window just above the pie, staring into her backyard in surprise as she observed the young men beating the living daylights out of each other, that Wario and Waluigi remembered that the pie was the original reason they were there in the first place.

Bringing their fight to a sudden pause and looking over at the pie at the same time, Wario and Waluigi seemed to give each other a sort of agreeing glance shortly before nodding to each other. If they wanted to attain their similar goals, they would have to set aside their differences for the time being at least and nab the pie.

Running toward the ovular source of tasty pleasure at the same time, Waluigi used his longer arms to push away the elderly cook before she could remove the pie from the sill as Wario went in to grab the treat. However, Tayce T. wasn't about to give up so easily, for she soon slammed shut the window, thereby crushing Waluigi's arm, causing him to scream in pain as Wario ran off with the pie.

Shouting out cries for help, Waluigi could swear he broke a bone at the force of the window's slam. At the same time, Tayce was calling over to her husband, telling him to hurry to the backyard to teach the delinquents a lesson. All the while, Wario could hear Waluigi beckon for him to come back and help him, a request that Wario normally would have left unanswered. However, this time was a little different. Waluigi. Wario liked something about him. He liked his style.

Unlike most people, Waluigi wasn't afraid to fight for what he wanted, even if the fight was against someone with such intimidating girth as Wario's. He also proved to be pretty sneaky, managing to throw a few punches and kicks that Wario couldn't see coming at all. And Wario was great at reading people's moves. But most of all, Waluigi appeared to be a kindred spirit. Although they'd only interacted via fighting, Wario knew that Waluigi was similar to him in at least one way: he would do anything he had to to get what he wanted. Even if it meant stealing, an activity that Wario wasn't ashamed to do at all, though he found that he wasn't particularly good at it by himself, having trouble with committing the petty crime several times already.

Hmm... There was a thought. Maybe this kid could be Wario's partner. He figured that, if he helped the boy with the window situation, the boy would return the favor and be an accessory in his theft attempts. Yeah, that'd make life a lot easier, especially if the guy was pretty decent at stealing. And, really, just looking at him, Wario figured that Waluigi was a natural born thief. He simply had the look of a crook. It was definitely promising.

Well then, it was settled.

With pie in hand, Wario ran back to Waluigi's side, lifted up the window with his free hand (thereby causing Tayce T. to be lifted a fair ways off the floor), and allowed Waluigi to bring his arm free. The boys then jetted off across the yard just as Tayce T.'s elderly Toad husband erupted into the backyard with a broom, swinging it wildly as he chased down the boys. Of course, this form of chasing wasn't very impressive, for the Toad only waddled moderately speedily and could only hope to manage to make his way to the end of the short yard in roughly forty-five seconds, an amount of time that allowed Wario and Waluigi to hop a fence and zip around the street corner before stopping to take a breather.

After a few seconds of heavy breathing, Wario began to laugh out of nowhere. Holding his protruding belly with his free hand, his laughter grew harder and harder over several seconds, and Waluigi soon wondered what in the world was so funny.

"What are you laughing about?" he asked between breaths. Wario immediately pointed a finger at the boy in purple.

"You almost got your arm broken by some old hag," Wario answered, making Waluigi furrow his eyebrows angrily. Before he could say anything though, Wario quickly controlled his laughter and continued to speak. "I like your style though," he admitted, making Waluigi raise an eyebrow skeptically as he folded his arms. "And I was thinking, we could probably make good partners."

"Why would I want to be partners with you?" the boy asked with a frown, looking at the pie enviously, the smell of its apple filling flowing into his nostrils. Wario quickly took note of the glance and decided to use the pie as the first part of the deal.

"Well, I could give you part of this pie," Wario offered, holding out the pie just underneath Waluigi's nose, teasing him with its scent for a small while before pulling it back to himself. "And, just like this pie, everything we manage to steal together could be split half and half. Workin' together, I'm sure we could get some better loot than this."

The lanky kid thought about the proposal for a moment, wondering if working with this random guy would yield better results than if he continued to steal alone. Despite the rather pathetic display that took places only moments ago, Waluigi was a rather good thief. He was cunning, tricky, sneaky, the whole deal. But when he got caught, there was hardly a thing he could do. Sure, he was a decent runner, but that was rarely a reliable means of escaping, for there were always faster runners out there, and, when people shouted for help, others would often answer the call and blindside the fleeing thief, bringing him to a halt immediately. He'd only been caught twice in the past, but it would be nice to have a way of escaping that worked a bit more effectively...

"Alright, if I agree to this, what could you do to help me?" Waluigi asked, putting on his business face. Wario immediately knew how to answer this inquiry.

"Just look at me. I'm buff," Wario complimented himself just before flexing a muscle, showing off some very impressive bulkiness where Waluigi thought there was simply fat. "I can take down anyone. Plus, I have a scooter," he added, pointing out his rather large blue vehicle parked only feet away on the side of the street.

That was exactly what Waluigi wanted to see.

By the looks of it, the scooter was large enough to fit two people moderately comfortably, even considering Wario's size, and it looked powerful enough to move along at a reasonably speedy pace. If Waluigi had to make a quick getaway, Wario could man the steering and they could zoom off on a moment's notice. It was perfect.

"...Alright then," Waluigi said after several seconds of contemplating the idea. It couldn't hurt to try a partnership at least. He extended a hand shortly before saying, "You've got a deal."

Wario gave off his toothy smile and grabbed Waluigi's hand, shaking it only one time before the boys turned to approach Wario's scooter.

"What's your name?" Wario asked as he handed Waluigi the pie and the pair climbed onto the scooter.

"Waluigi. You?"

"Wario," the portly boy answered as he turned the key in the scooter's ignition. The vehicle sputtered to life and Wario wasted no time pulling away from the curb and zooming off down the street.

"Got a hideout or something?" he asked over his shoulder above the rush of the wind.

"Yeah," Waluigi called back. "Toad Town Orphanage."


	10. Super Miscreant Brothers Act Two

**Cascore's Note: Sorry it took me a bit longer than usual to get this up. This chapter started out with writer's block, followed by the site acting all wacked out for a few days, only to be rendered inaccessible when everything was fixed because my own Internet connection decided to wimp out on me. These past few days haven't been that great. But oh well. I managed to finish the chapter and I now present it to you. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: "Super Miscreant Brothers Act Two: Mischief in City Park"**

As it turns out, Waluigi wasn't after the pie that day because he wanted it for himself. Wario wouldn't find out the real reason until he located the orphanage near the center of the town, but his new partner actually lost a bet the night before, and he promised a pie as the reward if he found himself to be on the losing end of the little game. Of course, he didn't expect the results to turn out exactly the way they did... Those stupid Nightmare Storms. They were in all the wrong places and Waluigi managed to hit every single one. Dreamland was a stupid game anyway. But at least he was able to find a free pie, even if part of it was already claimed by this biker wannabe.

"This the place?" Wario asked, slowing his scooter to a stop in front of a three-story white building that looked like a rather pleasant, very large house. A white, wooden sign resting in the grass of the front yard read, in clearly legibly carved words, "TOAD TOWN ORPHANAGE". Waluigi swung his street side leg over to the side of the scooter that faced the yard, standing carefully has he held the pie.

"Yeah," he answered bluntly before beginning his walk across the bright cement path leading to the stairway. Wario quickly shut off his scooter, hopped off the vehicle, grabbed his backpack from the foot rest area just above the front wheels, and walked off toward Waluigi.

"Orphanage huh?" Wario spoke up as he tucked away his key in a front pocket, observing the nearby sign.

"Yep," Waluigi responded, almost mumbling.

"What happened to your old folks?" Wario asked, taking a few running steps to catch up to Waluigi, who was now scaling the case of a dozen steps leading to the front door.

"Hell if I know," Waluigi answered, pressing a finger to a small, white button resting next to the door, triggering a doorbell to chime within the building. "Don't even remember them. I've spent my whole life here."

"Looks like a good place to hold yourself up," Wario commented with a snicker. Waluigi didn't say anything in response, beginning to wonder if agreeing to this whole partnership thing was such a good idea.

The door was soon answered by quite the attractive redhead; a human girl right about the age of fourteen opened up the white door, her blue eyes looking upon the pie in Waluigi's hands happily. Holding together a pink headband that wrapped around her long hair over the top of her head with a free hand, the girl stepped back to allow the boys in. She appeared to be in some kind of work uniform, for she sported a blue vest with a long sleeved white button up shirt underneath and a (surprisingly short) plain orange skirt. The only thing that really tipped off that she was indeed preparing for work was a white tag stitched into her vest that read "HELLO, my name is _Mona_," the name having been written in with a marker.

"Well it's about time, I was getting ready to leave for work," the girl informed, tying up her awaiting headband as Wario stepped in behind Waluigi, looking around the place as Mona closed the door behind them. She took notice of Wario's presence and decided that it would be in everyone's best interest if he was introduced to her. "Who's your friend?" she asked, giving Wario a smile as he absentmindedly scratched his posterior, paying more attention to the chandelier hanging in the next room over than the girl standing right behind him.

"Wario," Waluigi answered simply. "He's actually the one who gave me this pie," he continued on, holding the pie out to Mona as Wario turned to observe the conversation, hearing discussion of the pie. "He wants half of it though. That cool?"

"Oh, really?" Mona said, unable to hide a noticeable look of disappointed, for she really looked forward to having the whole of the treat. But, figuring that it was a gift from the new acquaintance, he was entitled to have as much as he wanted. "Sure, I'd be fine with just half."

"Huh?" Wario interjected, feeling slightly confused as he looked up at Waluigi. "I thought you wanted it."

"No...I lost a bet to Mona," Waluigi clarified, beginning to head for the kitchen. "I got it for her."

Wario gave the girl a quick look as she smiled back at him, obviously slightly tickled by the situation. Wario wouldn't have guessed that Waluigi fought over that pie to repay some chick for a bet he lost. But soon, with a shrug and sudden urge to feel generous, Wario spoke up once again.

"Then just give it to her," he said, making Waluigi stop in his tracks and causing Mona to smile even brighter than she already was. "I don't care. She can have it."

"Oh...well okay then," Waluigi replied, though he continued on to the kitchen anyway. "I'll just wrap this up I guess."

Once Waluigi was completely gone, Wario began to look around once again, observing a nearby desk, kept nice and tidy for meeting with possible foster parents. However, despite this small business area of the building, Wario did notice one glaring property of the orphanage that was missing: actual orphans. Before he could wonder where all the parent-less kids were hiding though, Mona soon caught his attention once again.

"Hey, thanks Wario," she piped up happily. Wario looked at her over his shoulder, not feeling particularly interested in actually talking to her. However, other than the orphan question, there was one thing he wanted to know to determine whether or not giving that pie away was a bad idea.

"It's just a pie," he responded. "But you guys do have some grub around here right?" Despite the hint of rudeness in Wario's voice, Mona let out a small giggle, finding his behavior to be comical for whatever reason.

"Of course we do," she confirmed, looking off in the direction that Waluigi just disappeared into. "We've got all kinds of food in the kitchen. You're welcome to have some if you're hungry."

Wario immediately began to leave without another word, his stomach feeling as if it were threatening to cave in at any moment. However, before he could get very far, Mona spoke up once again, making him reluctantly come to a stop and grumble to himself quietly as he turned to face the red haired girl.

"Are you an orphan too?" Mona asked, making Wario raise an eyebrow in response. "I just noticed that you had a backpack," she added quickly, prompting Wario to take it off and look at it. For all Mona knew, he could have just gotten out of school for the day...even though it was ten in the morning. Well, maybe he just ditched. Yeah. That's something he would do if he were still attending school.

Although being an orphan was closer to the truth, Wario decided to go with the answer that he just skipped school for the day, preferring to ride around town on his..."motorcycle". And oddly enough, the answer actually served to impress Mona, and she believed every word he said.

She gave Wario a kind of look he'd never received before; a glance that detailed some form of fascination with him. Something about him sparked an interest in Mona's mind. Past his rather grotesque figure, Wario gave off the air of a soul that just didn't care about rules or routine. His clothes were edgy, he willingly skipped out on his classes, and he had a motorcycle (or at least he claimed to have one) on which he could just ride his days away. He gave off the impression of being wild and untamed, the complete opposite of what Mona herself was.

Mona was the daughter of the owners of the orphanage. She was home-schooled alongside the other children who resided there and never had much opportunity to meet other people outside of going to work. Her life was pretty much the same day in and day out. She would babysit the younger orphans while keeping an eye on the older ones, did so well in her schooling that it no longer provided any challenge for her whatsoever, and always got to work right on time, only to spend four to five and a half hours serving ice cream to elderly folks or parents with young children. Who else would go to an ice cream parlor in the middle of a weekday?

Life was boring. It was just the same thing every single day... Sometimes she wished she could climb onto a motorcycle and just ride away without a care in the world. And right there, standing before her, was someone who could...

"Here," Waluigi spoke up, reentering the room with the pie, which was now tightly wrapped with two layers of clingy plastic. It was obvious the act of wrapping the treat was difficult, for Waluigi was gone for quite a while and he wore a slight frown as he handed it over to Mona, who took it with a pleasant smile. "You better not drop this or something on your way to work. It sucked getting that freakin' plastic over it."

"Come on Waluigi, I'm not that clumsy," Mona defended herself as she began to head for the door. "Work's like, a ten minute walk from here. It's gonna be fine." She opened up the door, but paused just before slipping out and leaving the two boys behind. "Oh yeah, you probably figured it out already Waluigi, but my parents took all the kids out to a movie again. They should be back soon, but you know the deal."

"Yeah yeah, I'll stay here until they get back," Waluigi ensured, urging Mona to go ahead and leave already. With a nod, Mona departed for work at Joe's Gelateria, and Waluigi gave out an exasperated sigh.

He didn't know why, but Mona just got on his nerves. Something about her just ticked him off beyond belief and he couldn't stand being around her for extended periods of time unless they were playing a game of some sort. There was no real plausible reason behind his negative feelings towards her though. She was infinitely nice to him, she was incredibly responsible and she loved every single one of the orphaned children as if they were her own family. She was like the perfect big sister, even though she was actually younger than Waluigi himself by a full year. In a word, she was ideal. She had looks, she had the right personality, and she had herself set on the right track by taking her education seriously and having a job at such a young age... Maybe that's what Waluigi hated so much about her.

Mona knew what she wanted out of life. Sure, it may not be the most exciting or risk-taking path ever, but at least she was doing _something_, which was much more than Waluigi could say for himself. The only notable things he'd accomplished so far were successfully nabbing a few coins worth of items from unsuspecting victims on the streets and living to see the age of fifteen. That was it. A rather pathetic list of successes to look back on at this stage in his life

Sure, he was being schooled as well, but, like Mona, everything was just too easy for him. So easy that he began not to care. Waluigi had all the smarts he could ever need, for he could see things from a logical standpoint just as well as he could utilize common sense to figure out how best to approach a situation whenever he needed to. All the brain power was there. He just didn't know what to do with it.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel thoroughly unwanted in comparison to Mona. Waluigi's parents, whatever happened to them to cause him to become an orphan, left him with a life of loneliness and self doubt. Year after year, for as long as he could remember, foster parents looking for a child to adopt would always simply pass him over. They always wanted the cuter kid or the more friendly kid or, a more recent and larger obstacle, the younger kid.

Yes, Waluigi was the only orphan of the bunch to actually be older than Mona as well as the only one to be in the establishment for his entire life, never once even being considered by a single foster parent. Eventually, Mona's mother and father were kind enough to tell Waluigi that they considered him to be their own son, a comment that he couldn't really take seriously since every orphaned child was considered to be a part of the family anyway. Hearing them say such a thing felt more like pity than genuine truth, although, in some instances, Mona did seem to think Waluigi was her own brother, sometimes even calling him "bro". And Waluigi had to admit, he sometimes saw Mona as a sister. But that didn't mean that he wasn't ultimately envious of the acceptance she so easily received from society, her ability to take life with a grain of salt, and her aspirations in life that she could realistically meet someday. While she was shaping up to be the definition of a stand-up citizen, Waluigi, driven by his feeling of being outcast and devoid of any kind of love, decided to take whatever smarts he had and apply them to stealing from the very same community that he was so excluded from.

He didn't need to. He could have easily spent his time doing something else. Like building pointless 1:16 scale miniature sail boats or playing video games until his thumbs were as sore as his eyes or vice versa. Stealing was simply a hobby of his. A past-time that could apply his advanced ability to think logically while he practiced doing something that he actually found rather thrilling and enjoyable: sneaking around and lifting various valuables from people without them even noticing. It gave him a sense of power, for he was the one to decide who would soon be missing their wallet without ever knowing where it went. It felt satisfying to be able to steal an item that someone took for granted without being detected. It was comparable to taking back something in life that Waluigi missed out on by being an orphan, being without a true family that took him in and loved him for who he was.

But what did he do with everything that he managed to steal? He could go out and pawn them off or keep whatever straight cash he managed to nab for himself, using the money to buy whatever he liked. But he didn't.

Whenever he acquired a new item...he simply threw it away. Much like how he felt life threw him away. Material things could never fill the void in his heart that a feeling of love and acceptance would. But stealing was all Waluigi knew how to do, and he did it quite well. And now that he had Wario in tow, the gluttonous boy who was currently threatening to empty the entire fridge of its contents to satiate his massive hunger, at least he wouldn't have to do it alone.

But why did Wario steal in the first place? Sure, looking at him, he probably didn't need a reason to do it more than wanting things that he didn't already have, but Waluigi decided to ask anyway. It would serve as a learning experience to figure out at least a little something about his partner that he'd be spending a fair amount of his time with.

"My old man kicked me out of the house," Wario answered between bites of cold turkey and mashed potatoes. "Don't have a job or nothin', so I have to do somethin' to stay alive ya know."

At least Wario had a reason. He stole to survive. And he obviously didn't have the education or the dedication to hold down any kind of actual job. It was a better excuse to resort to crime than Waluigi could honestly come up with.

So that was that. If Waluigi was to do one thing with his life, it was to continue doing what he did best to help out this individual that most likely could not survive without a partner to aid him.

Wario was not a boon whatsoever as far as actually stealing though. With his build and his slightly clumsy nature, he couldn't sneak up to someone and lift an item off them worth crap. He was much more suited to be the getaway artist and sheer muscle just in case things went wrong. And that was his only role after Waluigi finally came to the realization that Wario was completely useless on the field.

Time and time again, Waluigi would have to signal for Wario to pick him up with his trusty scooter in case he made a wrong move and was being pursued by angry not-so-hapless targets. And, on more rare occasions, Wario would have to step in himself and prove his worth as the muscle of the team. Thankfully, Wario did manage to pull his weight when he needed to, earning the rewards from the thefts that he immediately either used to purchase food or horded away, saving money for that prized motorcycle that he aimed to someday own.

This day though, as the boys pulled up to the city park and kept sharp eyes out for their royal target, Wario began to wonder if this would be the heist to make his dream come true. Would this be the day he could trade in this stupid scooter and get a real man's vehicle? Would the loot they nabbed that day amount to such a grand amount of money that Wario would have the ability to walk up to his dad and rub his face in the mass of coinage he managed to obtain? Well, they would see soon enough, for Peach and Daisy were spotted entering the park, and, thankfully, Peach carried her purse with her.

"Alright, I'm goin' in," Waluigi informed, grabbing an ordinary yellow walkie-talkie, resembling a toy that young children would use to play silly outdoors games. Because it was. Waluigi simply took the walkie-talkies from the play room of the orphanage, and, surprisingly, they worked quite well and covered a pretty decent field of reception. The pair used them for all of their operations and never once did the handhelds let them down.

Waluigi hopped off the scooter and casually walked into the park as Wario discreetly scooted away, parking himself out of sight nearby where he would simply sit and wait for a signal if things went wrong.

Of course, things went smoothly for the first few minutes, for Waluigi was a master at appearing to be completely normal in a crowd. It wasn't difficult at all to stalk the girls as they made their way through the park and approached the tennis courts surrounded by a chain link fence, immediately greeted by a pair of boys who looked to be brothers and right around the same age.

The group appeared to chat about something Waluigi didn't care about as they made their way onto the nearest court, grabbing racquets from a pile on a nearby bench, as well as several lime colored fuzzy tennis balls. Just before they stepped on the playing field though, Peach set aside her purse right next to the entrance just inside the fence, completely alone and unguarded, susceptible and open for stealing.

Rookie mistake Princess. Rookie mistake.

Waluigi gave the group a few minutes of play time to allow them to let their guards down and focus on the game completely. Of all four of the participants, Waluigi only found the brunette girl to be any good at the game. The blond one seemed uncomfortable just holding a racquet in the first place, the boy in green was so uncoordinated that he would frequently launch the ball out of bounds, and the one in red seemed so distracted trying to go easy on the girls that he was ruining his own game altogether.

With all the needless laughing about the overly horrendous performances by most of the group, Waluigi found it simple to discreetly slide his way into the fenced area and position himself next to the purse. Keeping a sharp eye on the teenagers, he observed that none of them were paying him any mind at all, for the boy in red was preparing to serve the ball.

After taking a quick sweep of the rest of his surroundings, Waluigi subtly knelt to the side and picked up the purse by the straps. Just as he turned to leave though, a commotion rang out from the court.

"Mama-Mia!" one of the boy's voices yelled.

"Look out!" the other's warned.

"Wha?" Waluigi turned to see what was going on and was quickly met with the fuzzy lime green ball smacking him right in the eye, ricocheting off his face as it flew high into the air and over the fence.

Waluigi grabbed his eye and screamed painfully at the top of his lungs, attracting attention to himself from all around. And, before long, Peach noticed just what Waluigi was carrying in his hand...

"Hey, he has my purse!" she called out, causing several people to observe the pink purse that Waluigi was attempting to slide out with undetected. Keeping his good eye open, Waluigi looked over at the group of friends, and, observing that the two boys and the brunette girl were beginning to run after him, he turned tail and fled out of the court immediately.

Whipping out his walkie-talkie, Waluigi pressed a button on the side and quickly shouted, "Get ready, they're chasing after-" Before he could finish his sentence, the ball that previously assaulted him smacked him in the back of his head, making him lose his balance, stumble over his own feet, and fall onto the end of a table resting next to a grill at which a Toad was happily flipping burgers.

The table's far end lifted up into the air as Waluigi brought his end down to the ground, and a hideously misplaced can of liquid propane flipped into the air, defying the laws of physics as it poured quite an excessive amount of gas into the grill directly next to it. This caused flames to erupt dangerously high into the air, startling the Toad cooking next to it enough to make him jump backwards and run away frantically, in turn making other park patrons begin to panic as well.

Trying to regain his bearings, Waluigi stood up and shook his head slowly, just in time for Luigi to trip over the root of a tree and bump into the lanky boy rather harshly. Waluigi was propelled forward just enough to slam against the table with enough force to make it jut forward and barely bump into the nearby fireball of a grill. And, of course, the small bump was enough to make the grill slowly tip over, bang against the ground, and ignite the grass below it into flames.

As people witnessed these events going on, they began to scream, panic, instruct others to get to safety, and whip out cell phones to call the fire department. The teenagers seemed to completely forget about Peach's purse as more gasoline was fed into the now-grounded fire thanks to the can of propane lying on its side and leaking its contents nearby. The flames grew so high that they struck a twig in a nearby tree, which started a whole new slew of dancing fire to occupy the canopies above.

Erupting from the ground nearby, Mister Monty made his appearance on the scene, having heard the screams from a fair distance away. "What's going on over here?" he muttered shortly before observing that the area resting before him was slowly becoming engulfed in flames. The only ones on the site were Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Waluigi, and Peach, who just arrived on the scene and was shocked to see the damage that was being caused so suddenly.

"Get out of here children!" Mister Monty commanding, waddling over to the group hurriedly. Luigi didn't think twice about the request, jolting away from the scene immediately. Daisy took a few steps back as well, until she was near Peach, who was still standing a fair distance away. Mario and Waluigi stood firm though, Mario's eyes fixated on Waluigi as Waluigi himself looked between Mario, the flames, and the path leading out of the park rapidly.

"He was trying to get away with my friend's purse," Mario informed the Mole without taking his gaze off Waluigi. The tall boy began to sweat, partially thanks to the flames behind him and partially due to the fact that he was caught red handed. Mario didn't look like much though. He was short. Kinda pudgy. Waluigi could probably take him on...

Before he could even think about defending himself though, a stray lick of flame sparked out of the main body resting behind him and clung itself to his hat. Waluigi threw Peach's purse high into the air as his attention immediately turned to his now-burning scalp, clamoring to put out the flames as he ran back and forth on the spot, attempting to pat the fire out with his gloved hands.

Keeping his eyes on the purse, Mario zipped past Waluigi and gave a small hop onto the table behind him, risking setting himself aflame as he slowly stepped backwards and held up his arm to receive the falling purse. Thankfully, it was sealed closed, allowing the contents within to remain safe as it descended to the earth upside down.

Mario found his heel hanging off the very edge of the table, mere inches from the flames roaring behind him, as the purse came into his possession. Giving a brief fight to maintain his balance after the catch, Mario jumped off the side of the table, landing safely on a plot of unburned grass, purse in hand.

"Stop, drop, and roll!" Mister Monty called out with a panicked voice as Waluigi's hair began to catch fire underneath his nearly gone hat. Without thinking, Waluigi fell flat on his face immediately, an action he would soon regret, for his long nose was left to make fierce contact with the ground, only adding another ailment to his current state.

Mario quickly made his way over to the two girls as Mister Monty worried over the half-blind, burning, broken-nosed boy who was currently writhing in pain on the ground. The trio hastily evacuated the scene as a grotesquely overweight boy appeared to see what was going on. However, upon observing Waluigi and Mister Monty panicking near a rather massive fire that was coursing its way through the section of the park while the sirens of a fire truck blared in the background, Wario slowly backed away, turned back around, and walked off, pretending not to have seen a thing.

–

As he observed the team of Pianta firemen successfully dousing the flames nearby, Luigi began to wonder if his bad luck really did pay off for the better in the end. Well, sure, his clumsiness did play a part in starting that fire in the first place...but hey, if he wasn't so terrible at aiming a tennis ball, Waluigi probably would have gotten away with Peach's purse. So, in a way, every negative thing that resulted from his misfortunate luck lately always had a positive lining in the long run...

If anything though, this was Mario's moment. Even though Waluigi managed to escape (with quite the burned scalp), Luigi's older brother _did_ pretty much risk his own health to ensure that Peach's purse didn't fall victim to the once-blazing inferno. And, as it turns out, Peach was in fact carrying several items of superior value that would have snagged Wario and Waluigi quite the amount of coins. Thank goodness Mario, the brave young man he was, snagged the purse just in time. Peach couldn't have been more grateful if she'd tried.

As Mario insisted that the act of selfless chivalry was nothing, Daisy silently sidled up to Luigi, who was leaning sideways against a tree, gazing on the burned, wet scenery before him upon where the firemen were preparing to wrap up and leave. The blackened grass and charred trees looked completely out of place when nestled amongst such rich, vibrant greenery. He hoped the damage wasn't too severe; he'd feel terrible if Sports Day was postponed because of this one incident. Before he could think too much about it though, he could feel an elbow nudging him against his side.

"Come on Luigi, don't worry about that," Daisy spoke up with a smile as Luigi glanced over at her. "It's not that bad. And hey, you stopped that kid from running off with Peach's purse. You're kinda like a hero."

"I didn't really do anything though," Luigi muttered, looking ahead at the scene once again. The people who previously occupied the area began to trickle back, evaluating the damage with mixed reactions. "If it wasn't for my clumsiness, none of this would have even happened. That kid probably would have gotten away and that fire probably wouldn't have ever happened."

"Well, we can just call it dumb luck," Daisy suggested, keeping her warm smile. Luigi looked over at Daisy once again, and, looking into her eyes for a few seconds, he gave off a smile of his own.

Daisy was right. These past few days, Luigi's unluckiness could have just as easily been called dumb luck. Three times he'd assaulted people while playing some kind of sport. And all three times, in the grand scheme of things, the effects of his clumsiness were positive. He really had to wonder if it was actually so bad to be the klutz that he was.

"Come on you guys, we've barely played any tennis," Mario called over to Luigi and Daisy, causing them both to turn and face him and Peach. Mario waved the pair over just before turning to head back to the court alongside Peach. Giving Luigi a quickly pat on the shoulder, Daisy jogged back over to the court herself, shortly followed by Luigi.

It was noticed that the four friends were split up into different teams this time around. Before the episode concerning the thieving Waluigi, it was brothers versus secret princesses. But now older brother was facing younger brother and blond princess was against brunette. The teams mixed with a silent organization, and nobody said a word about the arrangement. They seemed perfectly fine just the way they were.


	11. Awakening

**Author's Note: I believe my Internet harbors ill will towards me. I've noticed that, pretty much ever since Chapter 6, my connection would magically disappear in the few minutes it takes me to proofread my work. And it always happens to do this after working just perfectly for several hours. Go figure. And for the record, I actually finished this at 2:10 this morning, but I was not able to actually post it until just now, about 12:10 PM, ten hours later. Ah well. That's just how it goes I guess.**

**Anyway, enough of my needless ranting. Please continue on and read the next chapter of my epic saga. And as always, I do hope you enjoy it.**

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**Chapter 11: "Awakening"**

School hours on Friday came and went faster than the blink of an eye like they managed to do on most Fridays. Even Doog's unwelcome return from his few days of suspension and the challenging English quiz didn't hinder the overall feeling of excitement for Sports Day, which, thankfully, was scheduled to continue as planned despite the small fire that occurred two days previous. Saturday would be the day for fun and sore muscles from the wee hours of the morning to the depths of the night, and Daisy planned to participate in as many of the events as she possibly could. But, unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the remainder of the friends...

Luigi: "I'm just gonna stick with soccer."

Peach: "I might try tennis, though I'm not that great at it..."

Mario: "I'll go for soccer and tennis."

Their answers to the question of which sports they were going to participate in during the after-school walk were understandable. Luigi was getting pretty good at soccer, for it was his favorite sport after all and he largely practiced that specific game in his spare time; the only sport Peach ever actually tried was tennis, her first time ever playing being only two days ago; and Mario simply wanted to stick with his brother and the girl he liked (and who obviously liked him as well), even though he was actually pretty good at just about every showcased sport. Nevertheless, the answers were disappointing, for Daisy wished to have at least a couple of her friends present as she hopped between activities. The options that none of them even considered included basketball, kart racing, track and field events, and golfing (though it was only nine holes and took place at a more isolated location). She seemed to be the only one of the four in the group to care that there were more than twice as many sports as the ones everyone else named, and she was disappointed in her friends' lack of adventurousness. But it appeared she would have to cope. Though she really didn't feel the urge to do so.

Daisy needed Toad. Knowing him, he would be down for any of the sports. Unlike these three, he didn't limit himself to what he knew or who else would be playing; he would try anything at least once, and usually enjoy himself, even if he honestly sucked at it. The only problem was the fact that Daisy never had any clue where the kid disappeared to after school. So, of course, she initiated the best, most rudimentary way to uncover information: she asked the brothers in red and green.

"Oh, Toad's been going to the hospital every day," Mario answered, looking off in the direction of the large hospital that jutted out from the smaller buildings surrounding it in the distance. "He said that he wanted to be the first person Tess sees when she wakes up, so he's been spending all of his time there after school these past few days."

"Yeah, he doesn't go for anything," Luigi added as both Peach and Daisy curled their lips into smiles. "His parents have to bring him food because he never leaves the room until visiting hours are over."

"That's so sweet," Peach spoke up, prompting an agreeing nod from Daisy.

"We're hoping Tess wakes up sometime soon," Mario continued, returning his gaze forward. "The doctor said she's likely to get up today actually."

"Really? Then we should go and visit," Daisy suggested energetically. "We could at least keep Toad some company while he's sitting there. And if she wakes up while we're there, we can just leave the room."

"Why would we do that?" Luigi asked stupidly, making Mario and Daisy smile as Peach let out a small giggle.

"So Toad will be the first person she sees," Peach answered, causing Luigi to look down at the ground for a short while and give a small, awkward smile himself.

"Oh yeah..." he muttered quietly, rubbing his nails against the back of his head in a moment of embarrassment as he often did.

"So are we all up for paying a visit?" Daisy asked to confirm that everyone was on board with the idea. Sure enough, the question was met with various affirmative answers, and the group soon set their course for the hospital.

–

Dedication, fortitude, excitement, sorrow, love. There were plenty of words that could possibly describe why Toad remained in that room for so very long every single day. With school letting out at one in the afternoon and visiting hours ending at ten in the evening, Toad spent almost nine hours at Tess's bedside those past few days. Of course, he would pass the time away with homework, word puzzles, books, handheld video games, all kinds of idle activities that would occupy him while he was there, but nothing seemed more engaging, more satisfying, or more excited than standing over Tess and simply looking at her, daring himself to think of the hopeful future they would have together after such a horrible, life-altering incident. Which was exactly what he was doing at that very moment.

His determination to stay by her side slightly flabbergasted several nurses and doctors who came to check in on Tess every once in a while. They'd never seen an individual so deadset on seeing a loved one wake up with their own eyes; most would be content with simply knowing that their special someone would wake up at all. None of the staff could honestly say that they minded Toad's constant presence from the early afternoon until well into the evening however. Who could deny that he was simply a pleasure to have around, especially considering the situation he was dealing with?

When one thought about it, it was somewhat odd how cheerful Toad managed to appear under the circumstances. With his girlfriend lying in a coma mere feet away, Toad was able to smile and joke and hold steady conversation about topics other than Tess's condition, very rare actions that most people probably wouldn't be able to do in the same situation. Granted, he'd been there so often lately that he simply started to see that Tess was only sleeping, waiting for her moment to discontinue her slumber and rejoin the rest of the world. For him, it wasn't a matter of worrying over her health or fretting about symptoms and the past. He already promised he would help her cope with everything as best as he could. It was all just a matter of waiting at this point. Waiting for that magical time when she would open her eyes once again and rejoin him in the conscious world.

Looking at her though...it was still just a little hard to take in her image. Her eye was still slightly swelled and bore a faded shade of purple and a number of cuts covered her cheeks, still healing underneath the thin lines of scabs. At times, Toad found himself unable to believe what happened to her and hardly able to remember the moment that he first found her lying in the street. It felt like it all happened centuries ago, sometime in an ancient history that actually took place merely three days ago. But he was so focused on the future and how things would be made better for Tess under his careful, loving watch that everything that happened before, it just didn't matter.

The doctor's abysmal prediction on the night of the incident was proven true however, much to Toad's displeasure: it was discovered that Tess would not be able to have her own children. Toad had no idea how he would break the news to her once she woke up. Should he tell her flat out about it? Would a doctor come in and inform her if he didn't do it himself? Should he wait until she was up and about to let her know? Imparting such information would not be easy to be sure, even if he wasn't the one to deliver it in the first place. But now...he didn't want to think about it right at that moment. The time would come when she would find out. It had to come. But that time was not right then and right there...

If only he could wipe that grisly fact away; be God for just one moment and grant Tess's natural, miraculous gift back to her... But now wasn't the time to brood over what he couldn't possibly hope to achieve. He had to stay focused on what he _could_ do for her, not what he _wanted_ to do.

As he stood over Tess's resting body, watching her chest rise and fall as she breathed peacefully, Toad tenderly held one of her hands with both of his own. She looked so serene, despite the scarring that defiled her otherwise gentle and flawless face. Her mouth even hung open ever so slightly, allowing only a centimeter or two of space between her lips. Toad couldn't help but smile as he observed this cute, minute detail that made watching over her just that much more satisfying. Tess seemed-rather, she _was_-absolutely angelic.

Slowly and softly, Toad leaned in and planted a small, light kiss on Tess's forehead, a kiss brimming with love and care specially reserved for her and her alone. Standing up straight once more, Toad held his smile as he swore he could see Tess stir just slightly as a result of the show of affection. The thought of rousing her with a simple kiss made Toad's heart jump, though he was certain that the motion couldn't yield such powers as to revive a comatose spirit. It was simply ludicrous to think that much was possible.

However, the phantom movement he merely thought he saw a moment ago led to another that was undeniably noticeable. He could feel her grip tightening around his own. Her hand didn't contract all that much, but it definitely gave a squeeze that was absolute proof that Tess was at least somewhat aware at that moment.

Toad held his breath as his heart nearly stopped and he watched on in anticipation. He unconsciously squeezed Tess's hand a bit tighter as he looked and waiting eagerly as her head tilted slightly, causing her to face him completely as she let out a very quiet, nearly inaudible sigh. Her mouth closed completely, and, as her eyes began to slowly crack open, Toad could tell she was coming back to reality once again. She was coming back to him.

"Tess," Toad whispered excitedly as his girlfriend refrained from opening her eyes wider, the brightness of the ceiling lights being terribly unwelcome. With a squint, it took her several moments to fully register that it was Toad who was standing over her, carrying his warm smile and positively beaming as his wish to be the first person Tess saw when she awoke was fulfilled.

"Toad..." Tess spoke with a faint voice, her vocal chords having grown lax over the course of the several days she was unable to put them to use.

"Yeah...it's me," Toad answered softly, refraining from grabbing Tess right then and there and pulling her into a massive hug.

"Where am I...?" Tess muttered without diverting her eyes from Toad. "I feel...really sore...and stiff..."

"You're in the hospital Tess," Toad informed her, feeling a surprise tear welling in his eye, a signal of the momentous occasion and his genuinely ecstatic feelings. "You've been here for a few days."

"A few...days...? Toad...what happen..."

Tess couldn't finish her sentence before warily closing her eyes once more. The few moments of consciousness drained her of whatever little energy she had, and she soon found herself slipping off into slumber once again. Despite having lost her to continued slumber though, Toad was absolutely overjoyed to have been able to speak with her just that once after what felt like a miniature eternity.

He slowly raised Tess's hand to his lips and gave it a tender kiss shortly before resting it over her stomach. As he did so, his smile was stained by the single tear that occupied his eye just moments before. The drop landed harmlessly on Tess's blanket and Toad never bothered to wipe away the stained trail it left behind on his cheek. He didn't care about erasing that mark. He was proud to wear it actually. That tear symbolized the moment Tess first woke up in three days. He was her first sight. Her first word was his name. That was all he needed to witness to make his entire week of waiting and watching to feel even more worthwhile than it already was.

So at that moment, as Tess retired once more into rest, Toad wouldn't be sad that he couldn't speak with her more. He wouldn't be upset that he couldn't magically rise her up from her bed and whisk her away to lead a happier life right at that moment. All it meant was that he had to wait a bit longer. And, for Tess, he would wait until the day he died if he could simply be there for her on the day she could start to live. And little did he know that, mere feet away, just on the other side of the wall separating the room from the waiting area, his four most loyal, most true friends were all observing through the frame of the window, granted a front row seat to this event that was so important to him, and so very heartwarming to them.

Peach was the first to react to the scene that played out before her, turning away from the rest of the group as she wiped a tear away, smiling and blushing in embarrassment. Everyone glanced over at her almost simultaneously as she gave a timid look over her shoulder and let out a small, tearful giggle.

"Don't pay me any mind," she pleaded softly with a smile as she looked away once more, blushing slightly more deeply. "I'm trying so hard not to cry right now."

A small sniffle was the signal for Luigi and Daisy to obey the command, giving each other a momentary look with smiles on their faces before returning their attention back to the room. However, Mario opted to take some initiative and instead approached Peach, wrapping an arm around her as he escorted her to a chair nearby. The pair sat themselves down side by side and Peach automatically proceeded to let herself cry into his shoulder, allowing his arm to continue to hold her close.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him with a muffled voice, covered partially by her tears and partially by his shoulder. "I just get a little overwhelmed sometimes. I'm so happy for him."

It wasn't very long after Peach's comment that Daisy could swear she heard a poorly concealed sniffled emanate from Luigi. Slightly surprised, she turned her head to glance over at him, eyebrow raised and lips forming a small smile. At the same time, Luigi looked away, disallowing her to see his face at the moment.

"Aw, Luigi, do you need a shoulder to cry on too?" Daisy asked with a voice writhing with such sweetness that one would not be able to believe that she was only being partially sarcastic. As if to further confuse anyone who wanted to attempt to figure out whether she was serious or not, she fully turned to Luigi, holding out both arms at a wide angle in order to invite him into an embrace, should he choose to accept. This could have easily been mistaken for teasing as well, but she was honestly completely ready to allow Luigi to cry on her shoulder. But, of course, Luigi wouldn't openly admit that he was having almost as much trouble keeping his composure at the moment as Peach was. Especially in front of Mario and Daisy. Days of jokes and a feeling of weakness and insecurity would follow if he gave in to his feelings. So, being the true man that he was, Luigi feverishly denied any claims of being on the verge of tears whatsoever. But, of course, simple denial didn't mean that he could fully control his voice at the time. And his voice told it all.

"No...I'm com_plete_ly fine..."

Damn it all, Luigi's voice was so muddled in the tears he was trying to keep to himself that it managed to squeak in the four words he uttered in response. And, of course _everyone_ noticed, because life wouldn't be what it was if _everyone_ didn't witness Luigi in his most embarrassing moments.

Passing doctors and nurses, a family of five that just entered the room, a blind Koopa woman and her seeing eye dog _all_ stopped what they were doing and looked directly at Luigi for a brief but excruciating second before continuing on with whatever they were doing before the untimely slip-up. Luigi couldn't believe that that just happened to him, and, cheeks burning with embarrassment and the thought of "Why me?", Luigi promptly excused himself from the group to go and stand in an isolated corner outside of the hospital walls in order to let himself cry properly, since he now had more than one reason to do so.

Feeling sorry for Luigi (thought admittedly tickled at the same time), Daisy felt the urge to follow him out and convince him that what just happened wasn't that big of a deal, something she found herself doing quite often as of late once she thought about it. But before she could leave, a quick look over at Mario as he continued to hold Peach close followed by a glance into the room in which Toad continued to pour every ounce of his attention onto Tess seemed to trigger something in her mind.

Thoughts stemming from her days in kindergarten flowed into Daisy's mind as she slowly turned to face the window once again. She unconsciously placed a hand on the sill as she gazed at Toad, remembering the instance that occurred only minutes ago involving his kiss and Tess's brief awakening shortly thereafter. Daisy hadn't thought about it at the time, but an element found in one particular fairy tale she heard as a toddler just played out before her very eyes...

"_And with a peck from Prince Charming, the sleeping beauty's eyes fluttered open, awakening her from the sleep. The sleeping spell was broken by her true love's kiss."_

Sure, the same principles didn't apply here. For one, Tess wasn't under any spell; she was suffering from blunt force trauma, not some poisonous apple passed to her by an evil witch. And she _was_ predicted to wake up at around this time. But was it a mere coincidence that she just so happened to reawaken only moments after receiving a kiss from Toad, the one person in the entire world that ever loved her so thoroughly and unconditionally? Or could his affection for her actually bear some kind of miraculous power that wasn't quite so easy to explain?

And what about Peach? She wasn't in a situation anywhere near similar to Tess's, but she completely let her guard down when Mario supplied a shoulder for her to cry on. Why couldn't she just let her emotions show right off the bat? What was so different about having the arm of another wrapped around her that allowed her to cry so freely when she previously attempted to force herself not to?

Fairy tales and love and friendship...they were all displaying themselves in full force in Daisy's immediate vicinity. The result was an atmosphere filled with emotions that would otherwise be simply self-contained or nonexistent altogether. And really, it felt very warm and very comforting, even though she herself didn't have anyone at her side. Just seeing others coping with dire situations and their own feelings thanks to the invisible fortitude of love...it suddenly made Daisy think about things she'd begun to take for granted and things she gave up on a long, long time ago.

Aside from special cases like her aunt and uncle, Daisy found love to be such a fickle, truly rare thing that she figured that even attempting to find it (and hold on to it) was a futile practice and that people shouldn't really bother. Sure, she was able to love, she didn't deny that; she loved her family more than anything in the world. What she had a hard time believing was romantic love, the kind that could sometimes drive people into depression, hopelessness, sorrow, etc. if they didn't succeed in finding it by some point in their lives.

Why bother craving something that you have little chance of obtaining? Daisy would always ask herself this. Really, it was pointless to drive yourself virtually mentally insane in an attempt to find the "love of your life". All that did was create more self-generated strife for yourself because without love, the world just didn't accept you. Somehow. Daisy never pretended to understand how people could come to such a conclusion that being single for extended periods of time meant that nobody liked you and that your existence was meaningless. That was crap. Not being in a relationship meant nothing more than the fact that you weren't in a relationship. That was that.

But it wasn't until this day that Daisy finally figured out just _why_ love was so thoroughly sought after. Love meant being able to comfortably let your emotions out to someone who would be there to support you. It meant having someone that would be there for you when times were tough. It meant having someone be there for you when you felt all alone. Love meant a lot of things. A lot of things that most people didn't just want, but _needed_ in order to feel safe and secure in their own skin.

As independent as Daisy was, she had to admit that if it weren't for the love of her father and the love of her aunt, uncle, and little cousin, she didn't know where she would be that day. Her father loved her enough to let her attend a public school (though only after some harsh persuasion). Her aunt and uncle loved her enough to make her a completely welcome guest in their home and to raise her as if she were their own daughter. Her cousin loved her enough to be her one friend that she could always go to, no matter what, that would never fail to make her smile, make her laugh, make her love life as much as she loved her. And now the love that spread amongst her friends reminded her of the love she had for her own family.

Excusing herself, telling Mario and Peach that she would be at the park if they needed her, Daisy left the room rather suddenly. Taking a bright smile with her, Daisy exited the hospital's front sliding doors, shortly met by Luigi, who was on his way back in after letting his tears flow freely for a short while. Without warning, Daisy grabbed him and pulled him into a slightly less violent version of a bear hug, squeezing Luigi a fair bit, but not enough to crush him. The surprise embrace left Luigi startled, throwing him into a loss for words and disabling him of the use of his arms, making him unable to return the hug. But Daisy didn't care.

"Luigi," she began happily, "You're such a cool guy. You're a sweetheart, you're a great cook, and ever since I met you I haven't had a single day that wasn't made better because of you. I just wanna thank you for being such a klutz. And for being such an awesome person."

With that, Daisy released the intensely blushing Luigi and continued on her way, leaving the boy behind to wonder just what in the world incited such a speech all of a sudden. It would take him several seconds to regain his composure after the event, but, after contemplating what Daisy just said, Luigi's day just suddenly seemed so much brighter. While he was a crying wreck only moments ago, he now felt life couldn't really get much better. It was pretty amazing how one hug and a few words straight from the heart just completely turned his day around. And he was actually able to walk back into the hospital with a rather confident smile on his face.

–

Daisy cheerily bounded up the steps leading to her home, humming an undeveloped free form melody that was stuck in her head for the past fifteen minutes. She dug into a front pocket, extracted her house key, and made quick work of tumbling the locks that previously barred her from entering. Opening and closing the door with haste, Daisy took several quick, excited steps towards her family, sharing each other's company on the couch as they watched an animated movie primarily for Ilys's entertainment (though Jeff and Julie found some aspects quite entertaining themselves).

Before anyone had time to react, Daisy approached from behind the couch and bent over to hug each family member individually as well as plant a single kiss on their cheeks. All three of them (especially Ilys) chuckled as Daisy hailed the surprise storm of affection on them. Ilys quickly stood up on the couch and turned around, prompting Daisy to scoop her up into her arms and give her another kiss on the cheek, accompanied by a tiny hug.

"What's up with the hugging and the kissing all of a sudden?" Jeff asked with a smile as both he and Julie turned away from the movie to face Daisy, who returned the smile eagerly.

"What? A girl can't just show some affection for her family without being questioned about it?" Daisy retorted sarcastically.

"Well, the handbook on how to handle the behavior of a teenage girl certainly didn't warn us about this," Julie responded just as sarcastically, making Daisy give off a playful scoff before taking a moment to look at her aunt and uncle.

"I just love you guys alright?" she stated sincerely, shortly ruining the heartfelt message by rolling her eyes. "Like, God, sorry I actually, like, like you guys. I'll try not to, like, do that so much anymore."

"You'd certainly be more normal that way," Jeff commented with a chuckle, making Daisy scoff once more.

"Like I come from a 'normal' family."

"You got me there," Jeff admitted defeat as Daisy came around to the front of the couch and took a seat, holding Ilys in her lap. Of course, the quartet hardly even watched the movie, for Daisy inspired conversation that easily outlasted the seventy minute duration of cartoon Goombas lost in the nether regions of the core of the sun. They seemed to talk about absolutely anything that came to mind; from the local toy store to Sports Day to Julie's surprisingly large pinkie toe. The chat simply seemed to flow flawlessly, changing topics from one to another without a hitch and all four participants having something to say about it. And it was times like these, times that Daisy honestly took for granted until that day, that she realized just how much she truly loved her family.


	12. A Surprise Summons

**Cascore's Note: After some writer's block barring me from figuring out how in the world I was going to construct this, the next chapter has arrived. I can't really think of very much else to say today, so I'll just leave it at that. Read on and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**C/N 2.0: Wait, I lied, I did have something else to say regarding a question submitted by Michaiah. The animated movie that the family was viewing in the previous chapter was not based on anything in particular, though I was thinking of "Space Chimps" when I described it. That being said, I've never seen the movie, so I have no idea if it's anything at all alike.**

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**Chapter 12: "A Surprise Summons"**

That Friday night, Daisy found that she simply couldn't bring herself to get to sleep. In hopes of retaining plenty of energy so she could perform her best at Sports Day, she attempted to go to bed earlier than usual, opting for a nine o' clock bedtime curfew as opposed to her usual ten thirty or eleven o' clock time slot. The family planned to arrive at the park as soon as it opened to the public the following morning at eight o' clock and Daisy wanted to make absolutely sure she was wide awake and had time to get her blood pumping with some exercise and consume a hearty breakfast to fuel her through the day as flawlessly as possible. But how could she plan to wake up early if she couldn't even get herself to fall asleep in the first place?

As was the case with most exciting events that were only a day away, Daisy found herself feeling too antsy and thinking far too much about the fun to be had to get herself to truly relax and slip off into the slumber that she needed. Tossing and turning in her bed endlessly, failing at attempts to position herself just in the right spot to optimize comfort and increase chances of drifting off to sleep, it would be a full hour before Daisy finally gave up. It was already ten o' clock, the rest of the household had successfully put themselves to rest, and Daisy, deciding that it'd be best to get rid of all this extra energy she contained that prevented her from successfully going to sleep, climb out of her bed with a sigh.

Adorned in a plain orange pajama suit, Daisy stepped over to her bedroom window. There was nothing of particular interest outside. At least, if there was, she wasn't able to see it, for the nearest streetlight was a fair distance away and that night just happened to have a new moon preside over it, providing only a very weak, soft light given off by the few dozen stars Daisy could see. Still, the sky did look somewhat attractive at least. Daisy even spent several moments connecting what stars made themselves viewable to her and making pictures out of them...

Those stars made a sword.

The ones over there created a four leafed clover.

And these ones formed an "L" inside of a circle.

Huh. An "L". Luigi had a green hat with an "L" on it didn't he? What a peculiar thing to do, stitching an "L" onto your own hat. And Mario had an "M" on his red hat. Why in the world would they put the first letters of their names onto their hats? Who knew. It wasn't like it really bothered Daisy anyway. She actually thought it was kinda cute. It gave a rather minor accessory some personality. Heck, that could possibly be a new trend someday; maybe everyone would start putting the first letter of their names on their hats. But if that were to happen, then Mario's and Luigi's hats wouldn't be special anymore. And Daisy liked those hats... Well nevermind then, she hoped they would never become a trend if that was the case.

Why in the world was she thinking about that? She got up to look at the stars because she couldn't sleep and now she was contemplating the uniqueness of a hat. It was amazing what kinds of thoughts would come about when she was trying to occupy herself with something to do so she could fall asleep.

Maybe some physical exertion would serve to work better than idly staring up at the sky. It would certainly be a more direct way to expend this energy and excitement that plagued her body and her mind.

Ensuring that she moved as lightly as she could so she wouldn't disturb her family members that managed to successfully get themselves to sleep, Daisy slowly and carefully opened her bedroom door, stepped through the archway, and tiptoed down the hallway leading to the nearby living room. Slipping her bare feet into the tennis shoes she discarded next to the couch earlier that day, Daisy silently slid the glass partition leading to the backyard out of the way and allowed herself through, instantly greeted by cool, crisp air that only served to further stimulate her senses, making her even more awake than she was just moments ago.

Despite the counterproductive effect of the cold air, Daisy knew that if she could just occupy herself with some kind of activity for a while, she'd be able to get herself exhausted enough to be able to lie down and actually fall asleep. As she looked about, attempting to figure out what to do to toss away some of her energy, she quickly spotted the household's lone soccer ball resting on the lawn, ready and waiting to be kicked around for a while. Appreciating the ball's convenient placement, Daisy stepped over to the spherical object and held it underneath her right foot, looking down at it for a moment, appearing to contemplate what exactly to do with it. She could just dribble it around, but that'd get boring after a while. Maybe she could pretend the fence on the far end of the lawn was a goal. But kicking the ball against it would be pretty loud and she might disturb more people than just her family members.

Hmm... Oh, duh, of course. There was a great way that she could utilize this ball without making a lot of ruckus and without getting easily bored.

Scooping the soccer ball onto the top of her foot, Daisy slowly lifted it into the air, careful to keep it balanced against her foot and the end of her leg. Once she was sure she was able to hold it steady, she quickly dropped her foot down as she rotated her entire body, turning her back to the ball and curling her left leg up, successfully capturing the ball between her calf and her thigh before it had the chance to drop to the ground. With a proud chuckle, Daisy repeated the same action in reverse, recapturing the ball to balance it on her right foot once again.

The grass crunched softly beneath her feet as she hopped over and over again in place, juggling the ball in front of her waist with her legs. After a few seconds, once she could feel herself getting lost in the intricate skill of the footwork, Daisy kicked the ball upward with more strength, allowing it to fly just above her head. She quickly bent backward, looking up to the sky, and allowed the ball to bounce on her forehead softly. Thankfully, she positioned herself just in the right manner so the ball wouldn't bounce away at an angle, granting the desired result of balancing on her forehead for a short while before she allowed it to roll down her body like a a wheel down ramp. Of course, her chest acted as a sort of speed bump, causing the ball to fall away from her several inches. To counter the action though, Daisy quickly spun around and curled her left leg once again, this time kicking the ball back into the air with her heel in order to bring it around to her front. Catching it with her right foot, Daisy returned to her initial position, balancing the ball once again.

She would perform tricks like this for several minutes, occasionally feeling like a one-woman circus as she pulled off more astounding performances (one in particular involving launching the ball high enough into the air to allow her to perform a backflip and kick the ball back upward before it landed). However odd as it felt thinking about how she must have looked as she pulled these stunts, she couldn't deny that doing it was fun and incredibly challenging (it wasn't easy keeping her eye on the flying ball in the darkness of the backyard). She only wished that it were six in the morning and not roughly ten fifteen at night. This would be the perfect way to not only warm up for the day, but to also put on a show for Ilys; Daisy's little cousin simply loved watching her perform acts like this. It was no doubt amongst her greatest joys in the world. But hey, Daisy could always try to imitate her actions that night for the following morning. Despite how flashy it all looked, for her, it really wasn't that difficult to pull off. It just took some focus and some determination. Of course, practice and flexibility never hurt either.

The show went on for roughly fifteen more minutes, the time nearing ten thirty. And, unfortunately, Daisy wasn't feeling tired at all. As a matter of fact, if anything, she was only growing more energetic and more antsy to begin Sports Day... If only the park was open for the event starting at midnight. That would be great...

Her mind was immediately diverted from her energy level issues when she heard a strange sound emanating in the air however. It was a familiar sound, that of a sort of a dull, cushioned reverberation that echoed about as a semi-frequent pace.

She turned her eyes to the sky to see if she could spot anything nearby. Of course, in the darkness it was tough to see anything, but there was no doubt that the sound was getting louder and louder. Daisy could even hear rather faint murmuring accompanying the noise.

"Oh dear oh dear...is this the house? My my my...let me see here... Why, yes there's the family insignia right there on the door mat. Oh goodness, I can't believe it took me so long to find the right place. The king will be furious to hear the summons has been delivered so late... And the prince and his family are sure to be asleep. Oh my oh my oh my..."

That worried, muttering voice...that could only be one person. But what in the world were they doing there so late at night?

Letting the ball back down onto the grass, Daisy left it to rest as she walked off to the left of the backyard patio, approaching a section of the wooden fence that was hinged on to the side of the house in order to let it swing open as a pathway between the front lawn and the rear of the house. She unlatched the fence's small lock and pushed the gateway open, causing its bottom to slide across the grass of the front yard and tip off the nighttime visitor that someone was approaching.

Daisy could hear the meek personality gasp as she stepped out of the backyard and closed the fence behind her. Attracting the gaze of the visitor, Daisy's image prompted a relieved sigh as Daisy herself crossed her arms and spread a bright smile across her lips.

"Lakilulu, what are you doing here so late at night?" Daisy asked, suppressing a gleeful chuckle at the sight of the female Lakitu floating just above the porch of the house.

Flying on a purple cloud that constantly mirrored her own expression of nervousness (its eyes frequently darted around and it always wore a tiny, uncertain frown), Lakilulu sported a purple shell that shared its hue with the cloud and short jet black hair that hardly reached to her shoulders. She also wore a pair of rather thick glasses that she constantly had to adjust, for they were slightly too large to fit her properly.

Lakilulu was the definition of a worrywart. Despite the fact that she'd worked for Daisy's father for nearly two decades, she was constantly afraid that she would completely ruin her ties with the king if she ever messed up a single request, be it as small as fetching him a glass of water or as large as arranging a diplomatic visit to discuss politics with leaders of neighboring lands. Knowing her behavior, the king refrained from asking too much of her at a time, but she was the only individual in all of Sarasaland that he could trust with carrying out such orders issued by him directly. She'd proven herself to be completely trustworthy and loyal time and time again and the king (as well as Daisy) respected her greatly. Yet, thanks to her nature, she always downplayed her own deeds by insisting that she could have done a better job or worked a little faster or made the plans smoother. She was never satisfied with her own work, but both Daisy and the king always felt she did an exceptional job with whatever she was asked to carry out.

Daisy had a particular liking for Lakilulu however. Among her king's assistants, she was easily the most active and generally the most friendly of them all, even though her personality limited her ability with social interactions significantly on certain occasions. Lakilulu was actually the one to suggest that Daisy ask that her father let her attend a public school. It was on one particular evening that Daisy was feeling especially negative about the shelter and utter anti-realism of attending an all-girls private school that she somehow managed to get Lakilulu wrapped up into a conversation about it. Of course, the conversation was largely one sided, for Daisy did more ranting than actual talking as she listed off her points.

In general, people didn't ride limousines to and from school every single day.

In reality, the world wasn't filled with nothing but girls.

In actuality, not everyone was privileged and rich and "perfect".

Going to that private school was just unreal in pretty much every way. How was she supposed to learn about the society she would one day preside over if she was constantly excluded from it? Seriously, knowing about the land you ruled over was an important part of being a queen wasn't it? There had to be _some_ kind of sense of connectivity with the rest of the world if she hoped to run the kingdom in a fashion that would both support it steadily while pleasing the needs and wants of its citizens at the same time. How could she possibly make decisions if she wasn't certain how well they would play out in society?

When she voiced these thoughts to Lakilulu that night so many years ago, the Lakitu lady took in the information with a slightly surprised look on her face. There was the young princess, hardly nine years of age, speaking more wisely than most actual kings and queens that ruled kingdoms without such thoughts or concerns taken into consideration when they made decisions that altered society altogether.

Daisy's speech about living in the real world (the world where cars broke down in the middle of nowhere and people paid rent to live in their apartments and day to day jobs had to be held to make the money needed for survival) to adequately learn how to one day rule it encouraged the usually still-tongued assistant to speak up and suggest that Daisy try to make some kind of compromise with her father so that she may leave the private schooling system she hated so much. Of course, Lakilulu didn't quite expect the negotiations to end in such a low form of confrontation as a bout of wrestling, but, without her input on the matter, it was very possible that Daisy would never have even been granted with the idea of leaving her home at the castle to live with her extended family. And hardly a day went by that she wasn't grateful for Lakilulu's interjection into the matter.

Of course, the friendly love that Daisy felt for the Lakitu didn't do much for the fact that their relationship was largely on a superior/subordinate basis, and Lakilulu constantly observed this almost always whenever speaking with any of Daisy's family (she wouldn't even allow herself to speak to Ilys without constantly referring to her as a "Lady" or a "Madame"). So, as she floated over to Daisy, and even though Daisy gave her a warm, inviting smile, she spoke with an almost mechanical voice, imparting words that sounded as if they were previously rehearsed for this occasion.

"Your Highness the Princess Daisy, your father, His Majesty the King Sarasa, summons you immediately," Lakilulu imparted, causing Daisy to raise a confused eyebrow in response. The Lakitu's incredibly formal speech wasn't what threw her off since it was rare that Lakilulu actually didn't speak like that. Instead, Daisy was more concerned with what could be going on that was so important that her father needed her right away.

"On what grounds does he summon me?" Daisy asked, keeping up the formality of the situation for Lakilulu's sake, since the old assistant disliked speaking with any of the royal family using plain speech.

"A previously scheduled diplomatic visit to the friendly land of the Beanbean Kingdom falls on the date of Saturday, September the twenty-third Your Highness," Lakilulu informed, double-checking her facts as she pulled out an itinerary from within her cloud, straining her eyes to read it in the dark setting. "His Majesty wishes for you to arrive at the castle no later than eight o' clock in the A.M. tomorrow morning. Your Gracefulness and His Highness will then depart for the Beanbean International Airport at nine o' clock in the A.M., scheduled to arrive at the airport at ten o'clock, then at the capitol of the Beanbean Kingdom, the Beanbean Castle Town, at ten thirty, where you will meet Her Majesty the Queen Bean, His Highness the Prince Peasley, and Ambassador the Lady Lima."

Well that was just great... Why the hell hadn't Daisy heard about this trip before? It fell right on top of the one day of the week that she anticipated the most, and she would have to completely skip Sports Day just to go to the Beanbean Kingdom with her father. God, if he was going to make plans that involved taking her away from Toad Town, he should have at least had the courtesy of letting her know beforehand... Of course, she couldn't expect him to tell her. He was just so freaking spastic like that...

"What business do we have in the Beanbean Kingdom?" Daisy asked, her voice growing noticeably testy as she realized that her whole day was just thrown out the window thanks to her father. Trying to disregard the irritation that rang from Daisy's tone upon uttering the question, Lakilulu provided an answer. Unfortunately, it was one that Daisy did not want to hear.

"His Majesty simply states that it is for friendly visiting purposes only. He wishes for you to meet the Beanbean royal family and you are scheduled to remain within the Beanbean Kingdom's borders until seven o' clock Sunday evening, when you will be returning home."

Oh, she simply couldn't believe this. Daisy understood the importance of keeping friendly relations with neighboring kingdoms, and hardly anything was much more friendly than stopping by and paying a personal visit, but couldn't it have come at a better time!? Or could she at least have been _informed_ about it a bit sooner!? Her father apparently failed to realize that she actually had her own life and her own plans. And, of course, he had to butt in at just the wrong time.

"We can't reschedule for another date?" Daisy asked with a voice that sounded whiny just as much as it sounded angry as she dropped her folded arms down to her sides, her lips curling into a slight frown.

"I apologize Your Majesty, His Highness confirmed this date," Lakilulu informed. "It cannot be changed."

Daisy placed her hands on her hips as she glanced over at the front door of the house. Could her father have any worse timing? And was it really necessary that she go and meet the Beanbean royal family the very next day? Couldn't it wait until the following Saturday when she actually didn't have anything planned? God...

It took Daisy several moments to come to terms with the fact that she had to carry through with the plans, whether she particularly wanted to or not. She had to face it, a day in the park playing sports wasn't quite as important as making a diplomatic venture to another kingdom, even if it was just for a simple visit in order to meet the leaders. Friendly ties and relationships with the rulers of neighboring lands was a prominent part of being a leader after all. The scheduled plans of visiting granted birth to friendships and allies that could aid one another in case a time of crisis occurred for one of the kingdoms, such as war breaking out or a famine or anything of the like. And Daisy herself had yet to meet Queen Bean, Prince Peasley, and Lady Lima. If she hoped to make her ascent to the throne one day, it would definitely be vital that the ties her father established with the kingdom were kept strong for when he stepped down from power, and the best way to do that was for Daisy to make friends with them herself.

With a sigh after several seconds of silent contemplation, Daisy gave a small nod, accepting the fact that she would have to give up her day at the park in favor of traveling to the Beanbean Kingdom and meeting the royal family. It most likely wouldn't be as much fun and she felt bad about having to leave her friends behind without any notice, but it was something that had to be done...

It wasn't long before Daisy noticed a black limo pulling up in front of the house's driveway, the driver having apparently gotten even more lost than Lakilulu had while trying to track down the correct location. In an attempt to remain discreet and deter any attention that the automobile might have attracted, the driver promptly turned off the car's engine, shutting the vehicle down and switching off its noticeable headlights. Shortly thereafter, a black shelled Koopa stepped out of the vehicle, bearing a black suit as well as a black top hat, causing him to blend in with the car and the surrounding darkness rather well, despite the yellow hue of his skin. He stepped to the back end of the vehicle and simply stood there, waiting dutifully to open the door for Daisy once she was prepared to step in.

While the Koopa was making his way to the rear of the car, Daisy and Lakilulu could hear someone unlocking the nearby front door. Turning their attention back to the entryway, the door slowly opened and Jeff soon poked his head out, having been woken up by the conversation being held so close to his bedroom window.

Peering out into the front yard, Jeff noticed the presence of the limo immediately and soon witnessed Daisy and Lakilulu staring at him from there standing point in the front yard. With an exhausted yawn, Jeff stepped out of the house, revealing himself to only be wearing a pair of white boxers. Lakilulu immediately diverted her eyes as Daisy felt the sudden urge to smack a palm against her forehead. The prince of Sarasaland was standing on his front porch, yawning and stretching in nothing but boxers, showing off his prized chest and leg hair for the world to see, should it choose to look. She had to admit, the sight was grossly funny in a way, but to think that Jeff simply didn't care that he had three sets of eyes on him as he made this display left no wonder as to why he moved away from the castle as soon as he could. Within its walls, he wouldn't have the freedom to do such a thing and be able to simply shrug it off the next day. His brother would kill him if he could see this.

"Hey, is that you Lakilulu?" Jeff asked from his vantage point at the doorway. Turning to face Jeff out of sheer principle, Lakilulu answered, though she eagerly attempted to keep her eyes diverted from his almost naked visage.

"Yes my Prince," Lakilulu affirmed with a small bow, making Jeff scoff in retaliation. Unlike Daisy, Jeff didn't care about the Lakitu's need to keep up formalities when speaking. He constantly spoke to Lakilulu just the same as he spoke to anyone else, hoping that she would lighten up and just talk back using normal speech. Of course, that had yet to happen. And it was unlikely that it ever would.

"What's my brother got you doing for him this time?" Jeff asked wearily, ruffling the already messy hair on the back of his head.

"My dad planned a father-daughter trip to the Beanbean Kingdom so we can meet the royal family," Daisy informed, taking the burden of speaking to the man from Lakilulu.

"Oh really? Is that so?" Jeff said, beginning to regain his senses as the cold air got to him. "That doesn't sound too bad. Queen Bean and Peasley are pretty decent folks. You might like them. But uh...do you have to go right now or something?" he asked, returning his gaze to the limo waiting in front of the driveway.

"Yeah, Dad wants me back at the castle by tomorrow morning," Daisy answered with a frown, looking over at the limo as well. "And it's not like the drive is very short... So I guess I have to leave tonight."

"Man, talk about a bummer," Jeff muttered as he folded his arms. "You're gonna have to miss Sports Day."

"I know..." Daisy mumbled as she made her way up the patio steps, headed for the door. "I'll just go pack up a few things. I'll try to be quiet so I don't wake anyone up."

"Alright," Jeff retorted as he stepped out of Daisy's way and allowed her into the house. In a few shorts seconds, Lakilulu followed Daisy's path and floated up to the patio as well, but stopped in front of Jeff once she reached him.

"I dearly apologize if the king's summons have come at an inopportune moment," she spoke up as she bowed so low that she threatened to fall out of her cloud. "I should have arrived sooner. It is terribly late for such news."

"Hey, Lulu, don't worry about it alright?" Jeff shrugged the apology off as he referred to Lakilulu by her nickname; a name she desperately wished that none of the royal house would use, for it was informal and beneath them to utter such a thing from their lips. "It's just kind of a downer that she has to miss Sports Day. It's an event that the city holds twice a year and she always loves attending it, so it's not your fault that she doesn't really want to leave."

Even so, that just made Lakilulu the bearer of bad news, hardly an improvement over arriving at an inopportune time. As a matter of fact, it only served to make her feel even worse...

While her uncle attempted to ensure Lakilulu that she did nothing wrong, Daisy lightly stepped her way through the house, headed for her room where she kept a singular red suitcase that she always used whenever traveling back to the castle. Lying the suitcase on its back and unzipping its hatch, Daisy wondered if she should even bring any clothes with her other than some underwear and a pajama suit. If she was to be visiting Beanbean Castle and conversing with royalty for the duration of the trip, it was likely that she would be required to ditch her normal clothes in favor of the dresses that waited for her patiently in the closet of her room back at the castle. Still though, it couldn't hurt to be prepared with some clothes of her own choice.

Glancing through her closet, Daisy picked out a plain orange shirt and a pair of blue jeans, both of which were tighter than her usual choice of clothing, hugging against her body rather snugly as she switched out of her pajamas in favor of wearing these casual clothes for the trip out to Sarasaland. Tossing the pajamas into her suitcase, Daisy looked back into the closet to choose two more outfits, just in case she needed them in order to last for the two days she would be away.

As she scanned the remaining selection of clothing, Daisy could hear tiny footsteps walking up the hallway towards her room. Ceasing her search in favor of discovering who was approaching her bedroom, Daisy turned her gaze to the open doorway. And it wasn't long before the tiny figure made her appearance before Daisy, standing out in the hallway in her white, one piece pajama suit, clutching a doll made in the likeness of a Mole that was about half her own size; her sleeping companion that she held close every single night.

"How come you're all dressed up?" Ilys asked with a tired voice, rubbing her eye with her free hand as she tried to render herself awake, having been stirred from her sleep by the commotion that occurred on the front lawn. Daisy stepped forward to her small cousin and knelt down to her level, stroking a hand down the back of her head in order to smooth down the slightly disrupted hair that poked up a fair bit.

"I have to go out to the castle again Ilys," Daisy informed her baby cousin with a soft voice. "Uncle Sarasa needs me to visit for a while, so I'll be gone until Sunday."

"But what about Sports Day?" Ilys asked with a tiny voice, not wanting to see her cousin leave on yet another trip to see her father. "I thought we were gonna play together all day."

Oooh...Ilys was just deadset on making this difficult for Daisy. She already didn't want to go and have to miss out on this one day of the week she looked forward to for so long, but now Ilys was unknowingly sending her on a guilt trip for having to leave, making Daisy feel as if it were her own fault that her plans to spend the day with her family and her friends was ruined...

"I'm sorry Ilys, I have to go visit my father," Daisy apologized, feeling terrible that she had to depart and leave her cousin behind with no notice at all. "But promise me you'll have fun with Mommy and Daddy tomorrow alright? And when I get back, I want you to tell me all about everything you did on Sports Day, okay? Promise me you'll do that?"

"I promise..." Ilys said halfheartedly, which wasn't nearly enough to convince Daisy that she would carry through with the task. Feeling the need to end the conversation on a light note, Daisy proceeded to egg Ilys on.

"Oh come on Ilys, it doesn't sound like you're gonna keep your promise," Daisy teased her little cousin with a playful voice shortly before beginning a hailstorm of pokes that would turn into a tickling fest of laughter emanating from the young girl. "Promise me you'll have fun? Promise promise _promise_?"

"I promise!" Ilys spoke out with a squeal of glee, barely managing to penetrate her immense laughter as Daisy tirelessly tickled her into positive submission.

Satisfied with the new energy behind the promise, Daisy discontinued her playful assault and let Ilys catch her breath as well as let out a few left over giggles that stuck within her as a result of the situation. Before Ilys could fully get over the tickling however, she surprised Daisy with a sudden hug around her neck, flinging the stuffed Mole about as she embraced her older cousin lovingly.

"I'm gonna miss you," she whispered into Daisy's ear. But instead of sadness, her voice seemed to be brimming with joy, and Daisy couldn't tell if that was a continuing side effect of the tickling or if she really was just happy at that moment. Either way, Daisy returned the hug tenderly, opting to remain silent for several seconds as she stabilized her own emotions, for underneath the playful act that she just put on moments ago, she was truly distraught about the thought of leaving her little cousin behind. Even if it was only for a couple days.

"I'm gonna miss you too Ilys," Daisy promised, trying to match her enthusiasm, but failing ever so slightly. She didn't give the comment much time to sink in however, fearing that her slightly depressed voice would bring down Ilys's spirits, something she really didn't want to do. So, with a quick kiss on the cheek, Daisy released Ilys from the hug and stood up once more, looking down at her cousin with a nicely feigned smile on her lips. "Now go back to bed. You need all the energy you can get for Sports Day tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am!" Ilys piped up with a gleeful giggle before scuttling down the hallway, dragging the Mole doll at her side for the duration of the trip back to her room. Daisy watched her leave and waited several moments, listening for the sound of a closing door that barred Ilys's room off from the hallway. Once she was sure the little girl was out of earshot, Daisy let out a sigh and returned to her closet, continuing her chore of selecting which clothes would be best for this diplomatic venture should the need to actually wear them arise.

It would be another ten minutes before Daisy was fully packed, having successfully picked out appropriate clothes as well as throwing in her hygienic utensils that she probably wouldn't use either, for her room was still fully equipped with pretty much everything she could need. Still, it couldn't hurt to be prepared.

Packed and ready to head out, Daisy lifted her suitcase and quietly made her way back to the front lawn, where she was met with the tail end of what could be none other than a very strange conversation that probably would have been interesting to listen in on during the course of the dialogue. It was odd how one could easily walk in on a chat a have the first words they hear be "I don't see why motion sensing toilet seats are such a big deal. Who likes having to spend twenty seconds trying to get the things to flush?"

What in the world inspired Jeff to make a comment like that...? Eh, it didn't really matter.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," Daisy cut in as she approached the pair with her suitcase, taking note that Lakilulu bore a rather mortified expression on her face, likely a result of what Jeff just said to her.

Thankful for the princess's appearance on the scene, Lakilulu nodded and shared her farewells with Jeff, who returned them and added that Daisy should tell her father that his brother and his family haven't seen him in a long time, and that they had to schedule a date so they could all get together sometime soon. Keeping her uncle's words in mind, Daisy stepped off the porch and headed out across the pathway alongside the Lakitu assistant. Jeff hung back and waved goodbye to them as the Koopa driver opened the door to allow the pair into the limousine's rear cabin. Once they were in, the driver softly closed the door behind them, not wanting to making too much noise as he did so, and promptly returned to the driver's seat of the vehicle.

Once the limo was running once again and the lights flickered back to life, it pulled away from the house rather slowly, turning down an adjacent street and disappearing from Jeff's view. He soon reentered the house and closed the door behind him, making sure to lock it up before heading back to his bed and his sleeping wife.

And resting on the bottom bunk of a two-level bed in a home clear across town, a certain young man in green pajamas shifted uncomfortably underneath his bedsheets. He had a feeling that the following day would not be quite as good or as fun as he'd hoped, for something rather important to him that would make his day perfect would not be present.


	13. Sports Day Without the Sporty Girl

**Author's Note: Here comes another two-parter that wasn't really meant to be a two-parter at first. This chapter would have ended up being quite long if I attempted to put everything I wanted into it though, so I think it all turns out for the better. Anywho, please read on and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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**Chapter 13: "Sports Day Without the Sporty Girl"**

Luigi felt oddly off as he sat up on top of his bunk the following morning, hunching over slightly to prevent smacking his head on the beams that supported his brother's mattress above him, an act that became second nature to him after a while, for Luigi frequently had problems with nearly knocking himself out during the first few months the brothers had the stacked beds. It wasn't particularly uncommon for Luigi to feel a bit down first thing in the morning. It was actually kind of hard not to, especially after spending seven to eight blissful hours sleeping and wandering about a dream land that existed only in his head. Having to disturb that rest in order to get up and actually exert energy to move about was always a bummer. But on this day, a day that was meant to rouse the entire town into friendly, competitive activity and a day that Luigi was honestly looking forward to, he just didn't feel the urge to do much of anything really. However, he figured that if he could just get himself out of bed and move around for a while, he'd soon feel a fair bit better. That was how the morning routine usually worked at least.

So, with an inaudible groan, Luigi threw off the covers that lied over the bottom half of his body, stepped out from underneath his brother's bunk (Mario was already up apparently, for his bed was empty), and turned right back around in order to replace his sheets into a neatly flat position, a ritual he always made sure to take care of, for he hated returning to a messy bed when it was time to rest for the night. Once his sheets were tidy and in order, Luigi scratched the back of his head, getting his fingers tangled in his messy hair as he turned to exit the semi-clean room that he and his brother shared. Before he left, he observed an alarm clock that neither he nor his brother ever actually used. It was a little past eight o' clock. The park just opened for Sports Day a couple minutes ago.

The moment Luigi left the room he was greeted by the delicious smell of a medley of breakfast-oriented foods. Sausage and ham and eggs and waffles. Mmm-mmm-mmm, it smelled fantastic...

Appreciating the fact that someone was considerate enough to save him the trouble of cooking breakfast for the family that morning, Luigi immediately made his way to the steam-filled kitchen where his mother was busy balancing frying pans and toasters galore, zipping all about masterfully as she shot a smile to her son. Her hair was short and brown and she wore a pink apron over a white and red checkered dress and fuzzy pink slippers.

"Breakfast smells great Mama," Luigi complimented as he stopped his short, rather husky mother and gave her a hug from the side. His mother happily returned the gesture with a small giggle before taking in a noticeably loud sniff and ending the hug rather abruptly.

"More than I can say for you," she retorted as she waved her hand next to her nose playfully. "Go take a shower Luigi, you can't go out smelling like _that_."

Luigi couldn't help but chuckle as his mother shooed him away so she could go back to keeping her eye on the food. However, as he passed by his father (who was reading a newspaper from four days ago in the dining room next to the kitchen), he suddenly grew self conscious and decided to give himself a small sniff underneath his armpit. Needless to say, his mother was right. He reeked. How the heck did he manage to smell so bad after just one night of sleep? It was disgusting.

"Do you know if Mario's in the shower Papa?" Luigi asked his tall, skinny father who wore blue overalls on top of a turquoise shirt that day. He had a matching colored hat and bore some seriously impressive lip fur resting underneath his large nose.

"He should be out by now," his father answered without looking away from his paper. He let a second pass by as Luigi began to head for the bathroom in the hallway when he decided he may as well throw in an extra two cents about Luigi's hygiene. "And if he's not, tell him to hurry up. You're curlin' my nostril hairs with that stench."

"Yeah thanks Papa," Luigi muttered with a sigh as he left, though he knew his father was just kidding with him. It was bad enough that he smelled the way he did without knowing why, and being heckled about it only made things worse.

Getting over the comment, Luigi continued on his way to the bathroom. Seeing that the door was closed and hearing his older twin brother humming on the other side of it, Luigi rapped his knuckles against the hinged portal that stood before him.

"Hurry up bro, I need to take a shower," Luigi called, beginning to get sick of having to smell himself as he stood outside in the hallway, a mere twenty or so feet away from the shower that beckoned him. Hardly any time passed before Mario opened up the door however, granting entrance for his younger brother to enter as Mario passed him on the way out. Taking a quick whiff of the air though, Mario decided to follow in the footsteps of his parents and mention Luigi's stench.

"Wow Luigi, you must have sweat a lot last night," Mario commented once he was out in the hallway and his brother was inside the bathroom. He only wore a simple white towel around his waist, having left his clothes waiting for him back in the bedroom.

"I was sweating?" Luigi asked, raising an eyebrow as he began to feel even more disgusted with himself. After Mario nodded in affirmation to the question, Luigi suddenly felt rather sticky, thinking about the dried sweat that clung to his body.

"Did you have a bad dream or something? You woke me up with all that mumbling and tossing and turning you did last night," Mario added, making Luigi attempt to recall any dreams he had...

"I didn't dream about anything last night," he answered, failing to remember a single image that may have popped up during his unconscious state. Still though, if he really was reacting as if something were disturbing him in his sleep, what in the world could it have been if it wasn't a dream?

With a nonchalant shrug, Mario resumed his cheerful humming as he continued on his way to the bedroom he shared with his brother. Waving off his thoughts about his uncontrollable actions of the previous night himself, Luigi retreated fully into the bathroom and closed the door behind him at the exact same time that Mario closed the door to the bedroom.

It would be another ten minutes of scrubbing and singing rather raucously in the steamed bathroom before Luigi finally emerged, feeling infinitely better after having successfully washed his morning blues and his sweaty smell away. And after about an additional five minutes, he joined his family at the dining room table, dressed similarly to his brother who wore his usual specialized cap, a short sleeved jersey, loose gym shorts, and running shoes. The only difference between the boys' choice of dress was Luigi's preference of a green theme color to Mario's red.

The breakfast was eaten in relative silence, for the boys' mother was scarfing down her food without a second's delay between bites, their father wasn't much of a talker (usually opting to remain silent unless he was first spoken to), and Mario and Luigi themselves simply didn't have much to say. This was rather normal for most of the family's breakfasts together, so nobody felt particularly urged to strike up any kind of conversation in order to fill the empty air with chatter.

That morning however, there was a rather obvious source of interest for discussion. And that source was coming from Luigi's older brother, who wouldn't stop humming his cheerful tune even while chewing on the various foods laid out on the plate before him.

"You seem pretty happy this morning bro," Luigi spoke up, looking across the table at his brother in red, who lowered his fork that was previously in the process of delivering a morsel of scrambled egg from the platter to his mouth. Also taking note of Mario's cheery attitude that morning, both parents lulled their eating for a moment to look over at their older son in anticipation of an explanation as to why he appeared to be so jovial.

"Well, I am," Mario responded simply with a waning smile that began to disappear from his face. The way his family was looking at him, it felt like he was committing some kind of crime just for being in a good mood. "I'm just excited for Sports Day," he continued on to say somewhat defensively just before resuming the act of eating his scrambled eggs.

The facade succeeded in deterring the two parents from keeping particular interest in their son's peppy mood, but Luigi wasn't ready to buy it. Maybe it was that innate sixth sense that were built into twins that allowed them to "read each others' minds," but Luigi simply knew that Mario was hiding the true reason about why he seemed particularly bright that day, and he was intent on finding out.

After he finished his breakfast of course.

The meal was quite delicious, much to the surprise of everyone at the table (including the lovely lady who made it). The family had grown so used to Luigi cooking for them morning, afternoon, and night that it seemed like they forgot that anyone else in the house could do it and actually pull off a half decent meal. Heck, even restaurants couldn't compare to Luigi's cuisine, and they had to _pay_ to go to those establishments.

But, almost needless to say, having been spoiled by Luigi's frequent cooking, the family's sense of appreciation for his work dulled down to virtually nonexistent over time. While his mother received praise after the breakfast was over for the meal she laid out for everyone that morning, Luigi hadn't been complimented about how good his prepared dishes were for a bit over six months by now. Sure, he wasn't really envious that his mother received thanks for the one time she cooked all week when Luigi himself never received any comments for the past several months, but it would have been nice to get some kind of recognition for his effort. He sometimes even contemplated making a big deal of it and refusing to cook until his family began to appreciate it once again, but he could never bring himself to actually do it. Deep down, it really didn't matter to him whether or not his family verbally thanked him for cooking. He liked doing it anyway and it was a contribution that he was proud of honestly. Besides, they all had to eat one way or another.

Sharing the chore of taking all the used dishes, glasses, and utensils to the kitchen in order to rinse them off in the sink before placing them into the dish washer, Mario and Luigi soon departed the room with everything in hand, giving them a moment alone that Luigi could use to interrogate his older brother about what he refrained from imparting back at the table.

"So why were you so happy earlier?" Luigi asked quietly, partly to keep from having his parents hear and partly because he wasn't sure whether or not Mario would want to tell him. Thankfully, his brother didn't harbor any ill will about Luigi's act of attracting attention to him earlier and decided he would go ahead and let his little brother know, though he kept his voice quiet as well to prevent his parents from overhearing.

"I've just been thinking about Peach lately," Mario answered as he began to scrub down some of the plates he carried in his load, beginning to hum once again as he worked. Luigi wasn't really surprised, for Peach seemed to be on Mario's mind almost constantly anyway. The fact that he was humming so happily while thinking of her was what sparked his interest, and Mario soon let him know. "Since I woke up this morning, I just suddenly decided that I wanted to ask her out. And I've been thinking about how cool it'd be if she said 'yes'."

Ah, so _that's_ what aroused such a good mood from Mario that day. Well, it was no doubt that Peach would agree to a date; it was obvious that she was just as smitten with Mario as he was with her. The pair gave off all kinds of little noticeable signs that they were interested in one another every single time they were in each other's company: Peach's hand lingered on Mario's shoulder just as Mario's lingered on the small of Peach's back for a second or two after they gave each other a hug goodbye, Peach laughed at every one of Mario's jokes (including the ones that were admittedly horrible), Mario always subtly attempted to position himself near Peach whenever they were in a group of friends together. It was just incredibly obvious that they had a thing for each other.

"Actually bro, I was also thinking that you should ask Daisy out too," Mario commented, breaking into Luigi's thoughts and snapping him back to reality for a moment as he began to rinse off a butter knife. "We could probably set up a double date."

...Well...Luigi and Daisy were a slightly different case... And by slightly different, Luigi would have argued that his feelings for Daisy were pretty much completely one-sided. Yes, in the past she had shown some signs of affection for him, but nothing that Luigi could really consider to step outside of the realm of friendship.

Sure, it was obvious to most that Luigi liked Daisy, but Daisy herself seemed to think that his slightly odd behavior around her was due to the simple fact that she was a girl and not because Luigi actually had a thing for her. And really, Luigi couldn't blame her if she didn't notice that he was infatuated with her. He never made any subtle moves or did anything for her that he insisted he wouldn't do for anyone else, whenever they were in a group of friends, he actually tried to distance himself from her, he just didn't make any attempt whatsoever to try and get her to notice him. Luigi was too shy and too unsure of himself to even try.

But, according to Mario, who heard his information from Peach (the wondrous grapevine effect at work), Daisy actually found Luigi to be rather cute. Probably not in the way that he was hoping (the kind of "cute" that girls liked about guys that made them eligible for friendship but not for a relationship, however that worked), but the fact that she thought this in the first place was enough to give Luigi a glimmer of hope that he just might be able to win her over. Asking her on a date that day though? That would probably be a bit out of his league. If anything, it might actually drive her away more than attract her to him. And that wasn't a risk Luigi was willing to take.

...Well, okay maybe it was. It really all depended on how confident he was feeling when he saw her that day. But, knowing him, that would almost definitely mean that he wouldn't even try to ask her out...

"I dunno bro," Luigi responded as he opened up the nearby dishwasher, preparing to load everything up. "I don't think Daisy likes me enough to go on a date with me. But Peach will definitely say yes if you ask her," Luigi quickly added before he could get any words of sympathy from his brother about Daisy. The attempt at diverting Mario's mind away from Luigi's possibilities with Daisy was to no avail however, for the boy in red chose to ignore the last sentence his brother in green uttered and focused on trying to raise his spirits about his chances with the girl of his affections.

"Come on Luigi, I'm sure Daisy would like to go on a date with you," Mario insisted as he passed a glass over to his brother to load into the dish washer.

"...You think so?" Luigi asked meekly as he slowly accepted the glass, wanting desperately to believe his brother's words. "What if she says no though?"

"Don't think like that," Mario lightly scolded, grabbing the final plate in order to rinse it down. "You know what Mama says-

"Thinking negatively will only bring negative results," both brothers said at the same time, for Luigi heard this saying frequently thanks to the fact he often thought that the worst would arise from most situations. And really, if Luigi's past experiences were any indication, the validity of the quote couldn't really be challenged.

When he went to a pool for the first time, he didn't think he would be able to swim, no matter how much positive reinforcement he had backing him up. And he ended up almost drowning that day.

When his elementary school hosted a small game where students had to guess how many badges were sitting in a jar, Luigi believed that, no matter what he guessed, someone else would guess more accurately and win the free ticket to Ricky T's Fun Park. As it turned out, he was only two badges short of being spot on and winning. But another kid was only one badge short and ended up snagging the ticket right out of Luigi's grasp.

And then there was that time-

"You know Mario, you're right," Luigi spoke up, interrupting his own negative thoughts about the past. It was about time he started believing in himself. He'd spent his entire life under his own critical eye, telling himself that nothing would turn out favorably for him. He had to make a change. A change in favor of an optimistic future.

"Next time I see Daisy...I'm gonna ask her out," Luigi said with a somewhat convincing determination ringing from his voice, a tone that brought a proud smile to his brother's face.

After giving his little brother a pat on the back and a few words of support, Mario led Luigi back into the now-empty dining room. Their father had departed to start up the family car while their mother went to change into more suitable outdoor clothes, opting for a rather large yellow sun dress and a pair of matching flip flops. She and her husband wouldn't be participating in any of the park events that day, but they would be there to support and cheer on their two sons, who were, apparently, only going to be playing two sports between the both of the them, which seemed like something of a waste considering the wealth of additional activities that the park provided.

Nevertheless, the entire family was excited to get out to the location and spend the day together (even the boys' father, though he was much more subtle about it than everyone else). The day was to be spent with frolic and fun, good conversation and even better competition, and an appreciation for health and fitness. Games would be played, friendly matches would be won and lost, but ill will would never arise. It felt like a day of unity for the entire community to come together and share their time with one another, using sports as the medium of communication. And it was hard to find someone in sour spirits, whether they participated in the events or not. It was a bright and sunny day, filled with bright and sunny people.

At least, that was how Luigi thought of the day before he realized that Daisy wasn't where she promised she'd be.

Having met up at the park later in the afternoon the previous day, everyone agreed that they would meet at the tennis courts, since they were close to the entrance and, if they wanted to, they could immediately play a few games of tennis if they so desired. However, as Mario and Luigi stepped up to the courts, they only found one of the two girls that were supposed to be there. And that one girl was Peach...

Dressed in the pink T-shirt and short pink shorts she normally wore for gym class and her hair done up in a ponytail, Peach greeted the boys with a smile (and a small hug for Mario) and soon asked if either of them saw Daisy on their way in. After fruitlessly scanning their immediate surroundings though, neither boy could honestly say that they had. Very much to Luigi's displeasure.

"Weird, I thought she'd be here before any of us," Peach commented as she looked around as well, unable to spot Daisy herself. "She told me she would be here as soon as the park opened, so I hurried over as quickly as I could."

"Well, it's not that late yet," Mario spoke up after observing the worried look on his brother's face in hopes of calming him down a little. "It's only about eight forty-five. Maybe she's just running a little behind schedule."

Luigi seriously hoped his brother was right. He had a boost of confidence that morning and he wasn't sure how much longer it would stick around. If Daisy didn't show up soon, he had no idea if he'd still be in the right mind set to ask her out.

All of a sudden, Luigi seemed to regress back into the negative mood that held sway over him earlier that morning. He felt that he remembered something that came to him in the middle of the night; something that was likely the cause of his alleged tossing and turning. He didn't know what it was, but he could feel that something would just be missing that day. Something that obviously succeeded in slightly depressing him that morning before he entered the soothing shower... And that something was very likely Daisy...

Luigi would never claim to be psychic in any way, but this wouldn't be the first time that a seemingly random feeling was a precursor to an event that would justify said feeling. In the past, he would suddenly feel jolly after a relatively bad day was nearing a close and, the very next morning, he would find several dropped coins lying on the sidewalk. One day he would be unhappy for no reason and, later on that same day, he would discover that his favorite cafeteria food was sold out just moments before he could obtain it. These feelings would associate themselves with some kind of event that hadn't even happened yet, and it was uncanny how accurate they were, but Luigi shrugged them off as mere coincidence most of the time.

But now...he couldn't really deny that there was something to this phenomenon that he previously ignored. If he was feeling particularly down that morning for no apparent reason...maybe it was true that Daisy would be absent for the rest of the day...

No. No. He had to stop thinking like that. He and his brother talked about this not fifteen minutes ago. He had to think _positive_. He had to believe that Daisy would show up any minute, wearing that bright smile and walking with a spring in her step, ready to get herself lost in the sports she so loved to play for the entire day.

...But, as the group waited for about five minutes...there was still no sign of Daisy.

Okay, maybe she would arrive in just a few _more_ minutes. Everyone ran a little late now and then. No big deal.

And the group lingered about for an additional seven minutes. Mario was growing noticeably antsy thanks to his idle state as he watched the dozens of people around him walking about, chatting each other up, playing games and wearing the brightest smiles possible on their faces. Being only inches away from an area loaded with tennis courts (which was quickly filling up with passersby and threatening to have no space left if the group waited much longer) was doing Mario no favors as he attempted to create small talk to occupy the group as they kept their eyes peeled for an approaching Daisy that never appeared. Bearing in mind that he was waiting for Daisy partially for his brother's sake though, Mario kept himself from verbalizing his eagerness to start playing without her.

It was nearing nine o' clock though. A whole hour later than Daisy promised she would be there. What the heck could be keeping her up for so long?

Wait...duh. If they wanted to know what was up, they could just call her. She _did_ have a cell phone after all, and everyone _did_ have her phone number. It was a wonder that nobody had thought of doing this sooner.

Being the most eager to solve the mystery behind Daisy's failure to arrive, Luigi was the first to react to the suggestion by reaching into his pocket and grabbing his trusty cell phone. Flipping it open and quickly locating Daisy's name on his contact list (it wasn't tough, considering there were only five contacts total anyway, and Daisy was right at the top), Luigi put the phone to his ear and waited through the long, monotone ringing that preceded either the answer from the receiver that he hoped for or the dreaded voicemail that would ask him to leave a message. Mario and Peach watched him in silence for fifteen long seconds before it became evident that something was speaking to Luigi, for his face sudden lit up with awareness after the long duration of the droning of the ringing.

"_Hey!"_ Daisy's cheerful voice rang out from the other end of the call, causing Luigi's heart to jump immediately as a small smile came to his lips. _"What's up?"_

"Hey Daisy," Luigi responded, nodding to Mario and Peach to indicate that Daisy had indeed answered her phone. "I was just calling because we're all waiting for you at the park and-"

"_Oh really? Man, that's great!"_

What inspired her to say something like that...?

"Yeah, I guess it is..." Luigi said, noticeably confused about what Daisy had just said. "So where are you anyway? We've been waiting for you."

"_Well you know, I've just been doing this and that,"_ Daisy's voice answered, making more sense than her last response. _"I'm not at the phone right now though, so I'll just have to tell you about it later. But leave me a message so I can get back to you alright? Talk to you later!"_

...What?

Luigi soon discovered that he was played for a fool as the beep that indicated that it was time to leave a message rang into his ears. With a slight blush showing off his embarrassment, Luigi simply hung up his phone, suddenly feeling deterred from speaking once again due to the fact that his brother and his friend were watching him, thinking that he was actually talking to Daisy. Of course, repeating what he just said in order to leave a message probably would have made it less obvious that he was talking to a recording than abruptly hanging up the phone. But who cared? In that moment, better judgment and common sense didn't matter to Luigi.

He at least had to admit that Daisy's method of leaving a recording that mimicked an actual conversation was pretty cute, if quite clever, even though it made him feel idiotic having actually spoken to it.

"Why'd you hang up?" Mario asked with a raised eyebrow, bringing voice to the very same question Peach had in mind.

"Uh...that was a message I left her..." Luigi lied. What he said during the fake conversation could have been a message if one stretched their imagination a bit, which both Mario and Peach did in order to accept the idea.

Still though, if Daisy didn't answer her phone, what could she be doing? She had to be up by now, that was for sure. Even on days that she didn't have to get up by any set time it was discovered that she rarely slept past eight thirty. And, as far as everyone there knew, she always had her cell phone on her. So what could possibly be going on that made her unable to answer?

"Well, maybe she's already here?" Mario suggested, turning all eyes on him immediately. "She probably went off to play some different sport while she waited for us and put her phone away so she wouldn't lose it or something."

Hmm... Yeah, that sounded logical. Once Peach informed the brothers that she didn't arrive until eight twenty herself, that left a whole twenty minutes where Daisy probably decided to try out a different game while she waited. It wasn't too farfetched that she would do that; standing around for twenty minutes straight during one of her favorite days of the year probably would have pushed her to do _something_ to immerse herself in the activity. Hell, Mario was hardly restraining himself and he'd been staying idle for about fifteen minutes.

So it was decided. The group of friends would split up and explore the grounds in order to find the missing Daisy: Mario was to check the basketball courts and the golfing range, Peach would handle the tennis courts and the track, Luigi would search the soccer fields and the go kart areas, and Mario's and Luigi's parents (who'd been sitting on a nearby bench, striking conversation with a friendly elderly Toad for the duration of the time their children were standing around) would either wait there or walk about the grounds themselves, calling one of their sons in case they located the absent girl.

The plan was ready, everyone was set, and, determined to find Daisy and complete their group, it was time for everyone to go. Mario, Luigi,and Peach set off for their own assigned destinations, keeping their eyes open along the way should Daisy happen to show up before they could get to where they were headed. And, though they were searching for Daisy...well, nobody said they couldn't have a little diversionary fun along the way...

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**Footnote: Yeah, I'm going to be slightly diverting from the core storyline for a while here in favor of a bit of character development in the next chapter (which I'll try to have up soon). I just hope that nobody really minds and that the next chapter is entertaining nonetheless.**

**Oh, and if you were wondering, the five contacts on Luigi's cell phone were, in alphabetical order, Daisy, Mama, Mario, Papa, and Toad. It's not really important, but I thought I'd let you know anyway.**


	14. Reunion on the Blacktop

**Cascore's Note: Alrighty! I stayed up all night getting this chapter done (seriously, about ten hours), and now it's here nice and quick, just like I sort of not really promised it would be. I tried to turn the spotlight onto Mario a bit more since he hasn't had nearly as much air time as the likes of Luigi and Daisy (and Toad and Tess and Peach and just about everyone really), so hopefully it makes you care just a little bit more about him. Anyway, like I said, I stayed up all night making this, so if there are any typos or anything, I'll probably come back and fix them up later. I'm just too tired to do it right now. With that, I'm off to salvage whatever sleep I can get and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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**Chapter 14: "Reunion on the Blacktop"**

Mario headed off for the basketball courts immediately as he began to regret volunteering to check the golf course in the first place. With something of a distant placement from the actual park (only about a half a mile away, but that was still daunting to think about) and a broad area to cover once he searched it, looking about the course would certainly be a time-consuming hassle for him. And playing a game or two while he looked around was simply out of the question, for rounds of golf always took quite a long time, not to mention he just didn't much like the game anyway; it was simply too idle for him and he preferred not to have to be a master at physics to play it well. Having to keep in mind the wind speed and direction and choosing the appropriate club and aiming for certain terrain and blah, blah, blah, that was just too much to think about when you went in to smack the crap out of a little white ball.

The one thing about the game that really appealed to him were the dandy carts that people got to use between shots. Even though they tapped out at about five miles per hour, it was still fun to drive those things around for whatever reason, and the Sport Day committee was sure to supply the public with _plenty_ of them (somewhere around seventy-five), partly in anticipation of the fact that people would simply like to ride them around the course.

...Huh, now there was an idea. If Mario could get a hold of one of those carts, not only would that cut down on the amount of time he spent looking for Daisy, but he could also have fun while doing it. Being in control of a set of wheels that he could drive pretty much anywhere, the wind blowing by his face as he kept his eyes peeled for the girl of his little brother's dreams. Man, now Mario was actually getting a bit excited about headed out there and scouting the grounds. But that daydream would come to fruition right after he was done looking around his first fenced-in, blacktop destination, which he was coming upon at that very moment.

Looking around, Mario found exactly the type of people he expected to see at a basketball court; largely high school to college age teenagers and young men, a female sprinkled about here and there to mix things up a bit. Most of the participants were the likes of Piantas, Doogans, Koopas, and Humans, using their natural taller stature to their advantage as they towered over the smaller players such as Toads and, surprisingly, the occasional Goomba. How in the world a Goomba could possibly play basketball Mario would never know, but the ones that did appeared to be enjoying themselves, so at least they were having a good time.

Casting away his initial urge to watch several games of three-on-three match-ups, Mario set out to do what he was there to do. Passing by the outer boundaries of several basketball courts situated directly next to each other, he scanned the crowds of faces to see if he could catch any sign of the brown-haired girl. However, thanks to the sheer tallness of most of the players, and to the rapid pace and activity that naturally accompanied the game, the process of picking out individual faces was much harder than Mario originally thought it would be.

If only he could make everyone settle down and stay still for a few minutes so he could get a proper look around. Seriously, it was getting to the point where, if he wished to get a good looked at a single court, he had to stand idly in crowds for several minutes as he unsuccessfully tried to discern faces from one another. The blur of the activity was getting to be so much that people started to all look the same. Either that or he mistakenly looked at the same people over and over and simply _thought_ they were someone else. It seemed very possible at that point.

Before Mario could become too frustrated with the uncooperative energy that emanated from those around him, he felt something bump against his lower back. Turning to see what it was that made the rough contact with him, Mario was immediately met with the images of a black basketball weakly bouncing away from him and a Human girl making her way over to retrieve it.

At the sight of her, Mario instantly came to a freeze at the same time that the girl slowed her advance to an awkward halt as she looked back at him. That teenage girl, with her long dark brown hair and her large light blue eyes, wearing that white tank top along with a pair of red sweatpants...that couldn't be who Mario thought it was. The girl Mario was thinking of disappeared without a trace two years ago. That girl was supposed to be gone...

Out of nowhere, the girl looked at the basketball that rested on the ground just before Mario and blushed, appearing to be more ashamed than she was timid as her lips turned into a slight frown and her eyes revealed a curious look of self doubt and regret. And it was at that moment that Mario knew. It was her. It just had to be her.

"...Pauline?" Mario forced himself to speak up after several seconds of tense silence, causing the girl to quickly step forward and kneel down to grab the ball, obviously in a hurry to break away from Mario; break away from the boy from her past. But Mario wouldn't let her get away quite that easily.

"Wait," he commanded, stepping forward in preparation to follow Pauline as she began to head back for her basketball group. Thankfully, Pauline did stop once again after only a few small, hurried steps were taken, Mario's voice somehow having successfully frozen her on the spot. At the same time though, her friends from the nearby court were calling her over, beckoning her to rejoin them and leave the boy behind so their game may resume. Feeling that this conversation just may give her a chance to apologize though, give her closure about the wrong that she committed on Mario those two years ago, Pauline decided that she would excuse herself for a few moments to talk with this boy.

"Just a minute you guys," Pauline called over to the rest of the players, able to mask the feelings behind her voice quite well as she tossed the ball over to the group to be caught by a female Koopa, who held it under her arm as she waited somewhat impatiently for her friend to return.

With a small sigh, Pauline turned back around to face Mario, who was looking at her with slightly furrowed eyebrows and a pair of lips that obviously wanted to deconstruct into a frown, though he was doing a good job of keeping them straight.

"Mario..." Pauline mumbled with an almost pleading voice, as if asking him to forgive her right away. Of course, he wouldn't be able to do that until he heard exactly why Pauline just up and disappeared the way she did two years ago. Really, he thought that by that point in time he'd be over it, but he wasn't. Presented with an opportunity to discover this mystery that'd been resting in the back of his mind since junior high school, Mario would not let Pauline get away until he was satisfied with what she had to say for herself.

As Pauline began to explain herself, Mario felt as if he were suddenly thrown into the past. He was thirteen again, only a month into his seventh year of schooling, and he was sitting in his rather upbeat social studies class that just finished discussing the hunting rituals of the ancient Tribal Shy Guys. Having been granted the last ten minutes of class to be spent however the students wished, naturally, the kids immediately began to strike up conversation amongst one another.

Mario himself wasn't much of a talker though. Like his father, Mario was a silent personality for a good portion of his schooling career, only having grown somewhat social once he began high school. He hardly had anything interesting to say, for he had almost no idea how to communicate with people other than the members of his own family and Toad, his one and only friend by that stage of his life (besides Luigi of course). As a result, most people never bothered with talking to the kid, and those who tried often found that they'd rather not do so again, for he quickly drove away their interest in him with his lack of skills in the arts of conversation.

Compared to who Mario was now, it was hard to believe that he was once an outcast himself. His peers thought he was boring, nobody particularly liked him, and, really, he just didn't care about any of that. Mario was perfectly content with being boring, living life day by day doing the same routine thing over and over, never bothering to throw in even a little spice to mix things up by making more friends and sharing in healthy chats with others. It was just his way of sailing the sea of his days on the Mushroom World out.

But that day, in that social studies class two years ago, that was the day that he would meet an individual who challenged him come out of his shell and explore the things in life he was missing out on by being reclusive and quiet.

That individual was, of course, Pauline.

She would approach him during that class within the ten-minute time span between the end of the lecture and the ringing of the bell that let the students out to lunch. She would greet him with a warm and friendly smile that Mario rarely ever saw from anyone besides Toad and his family. She would occupy the desk in front of him, turned so she was facing Mario over the back of the uncomfortable metal seat, and she would be the first person outside of Mario's familiar group of people he associated himself with that would not give up on the idea of making friends with him, even if it meant talking to a virtual wall for the first few minutes, hours, possibly even days.

She _insisted_ that Mario eat lunch with her. She _insisted_ that they meet up in the halls between classes and chat with one another. She _insisted_ that Mario accompany her to pep rallies and school sporting events. And eventually, even though Mario was a tough case, she turned the previously antisocial recluse into something of a social butterfly.

Nobody knew why in the world why Pauline took such an interest in Mario all of a sudden. Her closest friends didn't know, her parents didn't know, even Mario didn't know. Hell, she probably didn't even know. But there was something about him that she just found utterly attractive and she was determined to shape him into talkative, likeable guy. And she succeeded astoundingly. It only took her a month to undo Mario's self-created cocoon and replace it with a pair of wings that allowed Mario to soar into the heights of popularity that he never would have achieved had it not been for Pauline's sudden interjection. And Mario had to admit, he liked this new lifestyle.

Suddenly, the world seemed like such a friendlier place. People smiled at him, greeted him in the hallways, complimented him on how good he looked that particular day. And, to top it all off, he was in his first (and so far, only) relationship, for, after finishing her objective of bringing some sociality into Mario's life, Pauline began hinting that she would like to go on several dates with Mario to movies, restaurants and other areas of that nature.

So it became official. Mario and Pauline were a couple.

...But they wouldn't maintain that status for very long.

See, only two weeks after Mario and Pauline went out on their first date, Pauline attended the birthday party of a friend of hers without bringing Mario along. Of course, a party filled with thirteen-to-fifteen year old hormonally-charged teenagers sounded bad enough on paper. Throw in the fact that the party was unchaperoned and...well, that just seemed like a recipe for disaster. And, as it turned out, it was.

Everything started out innocently enough (despite the fact a few of the girls were dressed in rather revealing clothes and more than a few guys were eager to share their company). There was dancing, there were games, there was food, the cutting of the cake, the opening of the presents. The whole party went along just fine. Of course, Pauline's friend was rather trustworthy and pretty responsible, so it grew apparent that the party would probably be able to pull through without parental guidance.

It was only when it was was an hour away from coming to a close that things made a dramatic turn for the worse.

Pulling the classic trick of sneaking alcohol into the house without anyone's notice, a group of five boys made a quick job of spiking every two liter bottle of soda that was in use by the partygoers. Given the fact that only four bottles remained and that all of them were just about half empty, the boys were able to pour in more than enough liquor to get just about any one of the teenagers a bit tipsy without much more than a little sip.

Unfortunately, Pauline would end up taking a bit more than a little sip. As a matter of fact, one of her friends challenged her to drink an entire cup's worth of soda without stopping even once. A proposed mission that could not have come at a worse time if it had tried.

Filling up a quarter-liter cup with a soda of her choice, Pauline proposed a formal heads up just before turning the rim to her lips and beginning her nonstop journey to the bottom of the cup. The drink admittedly tasted weird, but she figured that it was her own taste buds at work, for she had eaten some rather spicy hot dogs not long ago and they were likely still playing with her ability to taste.

However, it was merely a matter of seconds before the effects of the alcohol hidden within the drink began to impair her ability to walk, talk, or see without having to seriously focus whenever she tried to do anything. Insisting that she just had a bad stomach ache, she convinced the friend that challenged her to drink the soda as well as the birthday girl to escort her to a bedroom or a lounge room or just any room that was isolated and had a place to lie down. Resting on the birthday girl's bed, Pauline informed the pair that it would be alright if they left her alone and that she felt better now that she was lying down. She wasn't telling them the truth at all, but she simply didn't want to ruin the party for anyone else, even if it meant suffering through this sudden attack on her body alone.

The room was spinning all around her as she lied there staring up at the ceiling. She never felt like this in her life. It was horrible and dizzying...she almost wanted to vomit, but she wouldn't allow herself. Not in her friend's room and on her friend's birthday. That would just be sick.

Instead, Pauline tried closing her eyes and focused on feeling better. She thought about being able to walk straight and talking without slurring her words and, most of all, being able to actually see again. Her sight was so impaired it was unbelievable... What in the world was in that drink?

She tried opening her eyes once again.

...Wait a minute, when did she fall onto the floor? Somewhere in that swirling mess next to her was the bed that she was previously on and underneath her was cold, white tile. How could she not even realize that she had fallen? Had she gone unconscious for a moment or...

Hold on, someone was coming into the room. Pauline may not have been able to see or, apparently, feel much of anything anymore, but her hearing stayed intact and she could tell that there was some boy snickering as he quietly closed the door behind him...and locked it. Who was this guy...? What was he doing...?

Pauline hesitated to continue as her vague memories of the night felt like such a dream that it could have easily been one had it not been for the open and blatant ridicule that she received at school the following Monday. Mario remembered that day himself; Pauline was a crying wreck and she wouldn't tell him what was wrong. And, having heard the story behind it, it finally made sense why she disappeared from his life directly after that.

For the entire day of school after the party, Pauline was mocked and teased by what felt like absolutely everyone in the whole school. How Mario never found out what happened was a mystery in itself, but Pauline could hardly walk two steps without being shown pictures of herself taken on various cell phones that were present that night.

Pictures of her naked, drunken body being carried out of the bedroom by a victorious and vicious boy that used her impaired state to his advantage to both have his way with her and to eternally embarrass her in one fell swoop. Pictures of the words "Slut" and "Whore" scribbled all over her entire body as she lie unconscious on the floor. Pictures of her furious parents grabbing her and her clothes in a huff, regretting allowing their daughter to attend that party in the first place...

It was horrible enough that these images were taken in the first place, but the wonderful world of picture mail helped circulate them all over the school in the matter of a single Sunday... And Pauline's entire life was ruined thanks to one night and one dare to drink an incredibly unhealthy dose of alcoholic soda.

She couldn't show her face in that school ever again if she hoped to retain her sanity. A single day of endless ridicule was enough to drive her to the brink of desperation, to the point where she even considered taking her own life because she knew it would no longer be worth living if that night was going to follow her for the rest of her life. Thank God her parents stepped in before she could bring herself to carry out the action and suggested that she switched to a different, smaller school that rested in the nearby Koopa Village. The daily commute would be slightly longer than the local school, but anything was better than having their daughter remain eternally miserable. Or eternally out of their lives.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before Mario...but don't let this change anything alright?" Pauline pleaded, noting a look of pity in Mario's previously angry eyes. "Just forget about me okay?"

How could Mario do that? That was the first time he'd seen Pauline in two years, he'd finally learned her reason for leaving him behind, and she practically shaped Mario into who he was that very day. How could he forget his first girlfriend and the girl that ended up having so much influence in his life? Especially now that he felt closer to her than ever, having heard this story...

Pauline was intent though, and, with a sigh and a nervous glance at the ground, she imparted another bit of information that would hopefully serve to deter Mario from ever thinking about her again.

"Look, Mario...as long as I'm spilling my guts here, I may as well tell you this," she began rather quietly before raising her volume slightly and looking back into Mario's eyes. "I never really liked you in the first place."

…

"It's stupid, but I was feeling left out in junior high," Pauline continued. "All of my friends were starting to date and I was the only one that didn't have a boyfriend. I wanted one so I could fit in...and you just seemed like an easy target."

...Easy target? How in the world was Mario an easy target? If he remembered correctly, he was quite unapproachable in his junior high school days.

"Sure, you were quiet and everything at first, but I learned that all you need to do to get a quiet guy to open up is spend a lot of time talking to him and act sweet around him. And with you, it worked," Pauline explained, causing Mario to think back and realize that that was exactly what Pauline did. "And yeah, I had to work a little bit to make you into a guy that I could see myself being with, but I was just never attracted to you. I'm more into tall, kinda wild guys. And you're shorter than me...and really predictable."

Gee, thanks.

"So you were just using me," Mario concluded bluntly, his frown threatening to return again, though this time due to disappointment and a bit of self consciousness.

"Well...yeah," Pauline answered just as bluntly, not pulling any punches with the young man as she spoke. She _did_ want him to forget about her after all, and what better way than to be to-the-point and somewhat insulting about the facts?

Still though, even as he slowly left Pauline behind without another word to be exchanged between them, even as the first girl of his dreams stared after him for several seconds, watching the crestfallen boy depart after finally learning the truth kept secret for two years, even as he broke off all ties with the only girl he truly ever held a relationship with, Mario still felt an ounce of gratefulness for having at least met her in the first place. For without her, who knew where he would be that very day.

He might not have ever had as many friends had he never met Pauline and, without the confidence that Pauline imbued in him those years ago, he may not have been able to make the advances that he did on the current lady of his affections; a lady that certainly was a genuine lady and not really a bit of a tramp that was simply looking for an arm to hold on to.

Mario was glad he ran into Pauline that day though. It only helped to reinforce his feelings about Peach and to appreciate her openly genuine feelings towards him in return. Mario knew that she liked him just as much as he liked her. She even playfully asked him out on a date once, only to quickly take it back as a joke before Mario could even answer. The way she blushed when she insisted that she wasn't being serious though... Well, that wouldn't be the blush of a simple friendly jest.

But Mario could think about Peach all he wanted _after_ he finished his search for Daisy. Thankfully, the talk with Pauline did settle him down a fair bit, allowing him to look about the massive crowds of people with a bit of a calmer eye. Of course, that didn't mean that all of the activity was any less confusing. Or frustrating...

Ugh, that golf course was summoning him...

–

It would be a full two hours before the search party (minus Mario's and Luigi's parents, who seemed to be enjoying themselves too much as they wandered about to simply stop) returned to their rendezvous point in front of the tennis courts. Peach was the first on the scene, walking a bit stiffly to the site, for she was sucked into several track and field events that she was in no way, shape, or form conditioned for at all. Having to take up a one hundred and two hundred meter dash, followed by a high jump, long jump, discus toss, and a grueling eight hundred meter race, it was evident that her legs and arms were going to be screaming for the next few days at the very least. Nevertheless, she had to admit, it was pretty fun. And, according to a track veteran, as long as she kept moving, she could keep her muscles from growing so sore that she couldn't walk. So seeing Peach constantly walking back and forth in front of the tennis courts for fifteen minutes straight was a sight that many passersby would be able to witness until Mario appeared.

He didn't look or feel fatigued at all (he _did_ get to ride around in a golf cart for forty minutes) and smiled upon seeing a slightly red faced Peach. It was getting to the point that simply walking back and forth was feeling like a chore for her. Her legs felt quite like jelly at the moment and Mario insisted that she take a seat.

"But then they'll get sore won't they?" Peach asked, though she looked at the nearby bench longingly, thinking of how magnificent it would feel to sit down for a while.

"Yeah, but at least you'll be able to rest. You'll fall over any minute if you keep walking," Mario insisted as he urged the aching girl to take occupance on the bench. And she obliged. But very slowly. It felt like every inch that she bent her legs was an instance of pure pain wrapped in a layer of torture with a beating stick pounding away at the casing. But, needless to say, it was with great relief that she finally managed to seat herself onto the bench. And never in her entire life had Peach been so grateful to have a place to sit.

"How in the world could Daisy even think about doing this for a whole day?" Peach asked as she attempted to massage her legs, an endeavor that never seemed to bring any results when she tried to do it herself but felt nice nonetheless. "I swear they were trying to kill me on the track."

"It just takes a little practice," Mario said with a smile as he took a seat next to Peach. "I'm sure you'll be looking forward to Sports Day just as much as Daisy does after a while," he added as he leaned his entire body over toward Peach, bumping into her lightly with his shoulder. As slight as the brief contact was however, Peach couldn't help but let out a small squeak of pain. However, she decided that she wouldn't allow Mario to get away with the act and chose to make a counterattack.

"That kinda hurts you know," Peach responded playfully as she leaned into Mario, bumping him back a little harder than he bumped her, though she obviously ended up hurting herself much more than she hurt him. And this only prompting Mario to continue the small exchange by rebounding and bumping into her once more, though he continued to do so as softly as he had the first time.

"It can't hurt that much."

Retaliation bump from Peach.

"Believe me, it does."

Return bump from Mario.

"Anything I can do to help?"

Peach feigned the action of bumping back into Mario, but instead stopped slightly short and gently rested her head on his shoulder. "No," she answered simply as she closed her eyes and imagined a body that wasn't positively sore all over.

Appreciating Peach's flawless ability to turn the friendly exchange into a more intimate position that subtly urged the pair to scoot just a bit closer together, Mario carefully reached up a hand that extended across Peach's back and placed itself on her far shoulder. Instead of letting it simply rest there though, Mario began to press down on the muscles behind the shoulder blade with his thumb, moving it in small circular motions in an attempt to soothe at least one part of Peach's body that he knew must have been in pain after the activities she had been though. And, thankfully, his attempt was much appreciated, for Peach let out a sudden satisfied sigh as a smile came across her lips, her eyes still shut tight as she focused on the spot that Mario was massaging for her.

"That feels so good..." she seemed to mutter unconsciously, for she sounded as if she were speaking to nobody in particular as the words floated out of her mouth quite angelically.

Mario couldn't help but feel himself break out in a small sweat as she said this. Something about the way she uttered her satisfaction with his efforts to make her feel better was rather seductive in its own way, though he was sure that Peach wasn't trying to pull any moves like that on him at the moment. It was simply a statement of appreciation for his effort.

Mario let several minutes pass by as his massaging hand wandered to various regions of Peach's back, but never going any further south than the waist. He kept an eye out for his brother, Daisy, his parents, anyone that just might put an end to the search that had been going on for roughly two hours and thirty minutes by then. But there was nothing. It was really starting to look like Daisy actually wasn't there after all.

"I wonder what's taking Luigi so long," Mario muttered to himself as he continued to looked around. The original plan was for everyone to be back by the tennis courts after about an hour and a half of searching. Considering Peach was the first to arrive and she was a half hour late herself, she and Mario were already pretty far off schedule. Luigi was running a full hour late by now though. What could possibly be keeping him up?

Whatever it could be, Mario certainly couldn't ask Peach if she knew. Without notice, she'd managed to slip off into sleep, leaning a bit more heavily against Mario as he slowly brought the massage to a stop. He certainly didn't expect her to fall asleep that easily. But, considering the fact that she must have been pretty tuckered out thanks to the intensity of the track and field events, just about any halfway comfortable position she could get herself into would likely send her into slumber without much effort. Nevertheless, she continued to massage her shoulder and her back, having grown into a comfortable groove that he didn't want to break away from.

Thankfully, his brother would soon appear on the scene at last. However, as he approached, Mario noticed that Luigi appeared to be rather dazed, for he looked off into the distance with a blank gaze and slightly stumbled about as he walked. Quickly locating Mario and Peach though, Luigi roughly shook head and made his way over in as straight of a line as he could.

"Hey you guys," Luigi greeted with a tone just as dazed as his stature as he plopped himself down onto the bench next to his older brother, looking up into the sky as he tried his hardest to gain his bearings.

"You okay bro?" Mario asked, observing his brother's state with a slightly concerned look on his face. Luigi placed a hand on his head as he closed his eyes, hoping his apparent dizziness would work its way out of him if he didn't look at anything for a while.

"Yeah... Some little kids just...convinced me to get on one of those spinning wheel things at the playground..." Luigi explained. "And they...spun me around really really fast for...about five minutes. I've been trying to find my way here for the last...fifteen minutes."

Man, that sounded rough. Was the spinning really so bad that he couldn't even find the tennis courts for fifteen minutes? Seriously, the playground he talked about was hardly a two minute walk away. Heck, Mario could see it from that very bench once he looked around for a bit.

But that was beside the point.

"Anyway...I ran into Daisy's family at the go karts," Luigi informed, testing out his method of keeping his eye closed in order to alleviate the dizziness. Thankfully it worked, but he still felt rather queasy when he thought about just how long he was on that spinning torture device. "They told me that Daisy actually isn't here," he continued with a small sigh as he continued to look into the sky longingly. "She had to go visit her father because he'd caught a sickness and he wanted her to visit him this morning."

"Ouch. Where does her dad live?" Mario asked, making Luigi think a little bit harder to recall his conversation from earlier that day.

"I think they said Sarasaland," he answered just before giving off another sigh that was quite a bit deeper than his previous one. "I kinda just want to go home now to be honest. Daisy was pretty much the whole reason I wanted to come."

"Come on bro, you've been looking forward to today all month," Mario tried to persuade his younger brother. "You just met Daisy a week ago."

"Well, it's different now," Luigi muttered. "It's just not as much fun without her. I couldn't even play any soccer or enjoy go kart racing because she wasn't around..."

As if knowing what his brother would say in response, Luigi tore his gaze away from the sky and planted his eyes on Mario. The smirk that spread across Mario's lips was a dead indication of what he was thinking at that moment. And Luigi hardly wanted to believe it.

"You don't think I'm in love do you bro?" he asked, prompting an immediate nod from Mario.

Now, many would argue that love didn't exist in the high school years. And that claim was largely backed by the fact that most teenage couples that claimed to be in love usually ended up going against their own words and doing something that would result in quite the nasty breakup soon after.

The terms "love" and "in love" were used quite loosely amongst high schoolers it seemed. For most of the rest of the world, "love" likely meant something along the lines of a deep emotional caring that was boundless and continually present in a relationship, and being "in love" probably meant that both persons in the relationship would go to any lengths to see to it that their significant other was generally happy, because the happiness of one meant the happiness of the other.

For high school, it seemed that "love" was that giddy emotion one felt when their significant other bought them that bouquet of flowers and asked them to prom. And being "in love" seemed to mean that, well, you were willing to have sex with your partner (though far too many relationships seemed to actually be ruined by that act as it seemed) and still stay with them after that night was over.

Obviously, those definitions were very different, and one of the sets was much more naïve and shallow than the other. Of course, the type of love Mario and Luigi were discussing that morning was not the sadly misguided high school meaning of the word, for Luigi seriously contemplated his feelings as he sat on that park bench and looked back up into the sky once more.

It was true that Luigi was having a hard time enjoying a previously anticipated event because of the fact that someone he met only recent wasn't there.

It was also true that he would likely be in something of a sour mood until he knew that that missing person was back in the same town as him.

It was true that whatever that missing person was feeling, he seemed to feel at the same time, no matter how far apart they were or whether or not they witnessed each other as they expressed those feelings...

Great. He had to face it. He was either in love or infatuated to the point of creepy obsession. And, preferring not to believe that the latter was true...

"I don't want to be in love bro," Luigi whined as he pressed the palms of both hands against his forehead, obviously feeling overwhelmed by the sheer thought of it. "I can't even get used to the fact that I have a crush on her."

Mario gave his little brother a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as Luigi noticeably slumped down into the bench quite a ways, ruining his posture completely as he practically sat on his back and his rear end hung off the edge of the seat.

Perhaps it would have been comforting to know that, somewhere in the world, Daisy was feeling just as bummed out about her day as Luigi was. Or, if it wasn't comforting...well, at least it would be ironic.


	15. Priorities

**Cascore's Note: Sorry everybody! It's been nearly three whole weeks since I last updated and I feel terrible about leaving this story on the back burner for so long, especially after trying so hard to get an update out every couple of days. Ironically enough, this chapter is titled "Priorities" and I'd been meaning to get it done for quite some time now, but the combination of writer's block, an MMO, finals at school, and the rare drama concerning a good friend of mine was quite the formidable force to be reckoned with. Again, I apologize, and hopefully I can get things back on track.**

**So, I've been reading the comments and I've noticed a few things: the chapters are too unnecessarily descriptive and there seems to just be a lack of something (I'm guessing feeling, though I may be wrong) that's making the story less enjoyable to read. I'm trying my best to address those issues so the story can continue to be enjoyable for you all, but, considering my time away from it these past couple of weeks, I may have reverted back into my bad habits. If so, just leave a comment detailing what I could change to make the reading overall more enjoyable. I appreciate the criticism and I'll try my hardest to adjust in favor of your suggestions.**

**Now that that's all out of the way, I'll quit jabbering and let you read on. As always, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 15: "Priorities"**

Even though she was suspended right about twenty thousand or so feet in the air somewhere above the Mushroom Kingdom, Daisy was still having trouble coming to terms with the fact that she was actually flying to the Beanbean Kingdom that morning. She was wearing that yellow dress and those white gloves and that golden crown for the first time in several months, staring out the cabin window without a hint of expression in her eyes. For all her father knew from across the aisle, Daisy could have been anxious or excited or frustrated or some kind of odd mixture of the three. Of course, simply bored (and probably a bit disappointed) probably would have been the most accurate guess.

It was about nine forty at the time. The small, orange-themed, four-seat personal airplane had been in flight for twenty minutes shy of an hour by now, and whatever conversation that was to be had between the father-daughter pair burned away thirty-nine minutes ago. There was nothing to do but wait and try not to think about the fun she was forced to miss out on that took place back home; or at least, the place that had come to feel like home to her over the years, for her father instantly reminded her that the castle was where she would be spending the majority of her life after her "romp amongst the commoners" was over.

Really, it was things like that that just made Daisy come to dislike having to visit her father. If only he just wouldn't actually talk sometimes. Of course, the king never would understand why his daughter didn't like how he referred to citizens, for he labeled them commoners his entire life without ever being told that it was a negative term. And maybe it wasn't. If he'd paid attention to the way he said the word (which was always with a negative connotation) though, maybe he'd know why his daughter disliked it.

"King Sarasa, Princess Daisy," the lone Koopa stewardess adorned in a long sleeved, black blouse over the belly of her dark purple shell and a pair of black high heel shoes spoke up, stepping through the curtain separating the main cabin from the refreshment compartment. "We shall be arriving at the Beanbean International Airport in approximately ten minutes. Are there any beverages I can serve you before we land?"

Sarasa simply shook his head in response while Daisy, taking her gaze from the window for a small moment, politely declined.

"No thank you Kasey," she responded, prompting a surprised glance from both the stewardess and the king at once. How astonishing that Daisy actually remembered the lady's name, _and_ managed to do it after only having ridden the plane twice in her life! That was an accomplishment Sarasa hadn't achieved in his lifetime of riding that plane several times a month. He just settled for calling the woman "stewardess" and leaving it at that.

Obviously flustered that a member of the royal family actually called her by her name, Kasey quickly gave a small nod accompanied by a slight blush just before speaking once again.

"We have been informed that it is currently raining over the airport," she imparted, earning herself a disdainful look from the king. "We will go through the necessary precautions and escort Your Highness and Your Majesty off of the plane underneath parasols."

Feeling unnerved by the king's disapproving look, Kasey departed from the cabin without another word. And now that the help was gone, Sarasa sighed and adjusted his large white turban uncomfortably.

"These people said there was only a ten percent chance of rain today," he said aloud, trying to egg some kind of response from his daughter.

"That _does_ mean there was a chance," Daisy muttered as she looked out the window once again, taking note of the rain clouds hovering nearby. That wasn't exactly what he wanted his daughter to say, but the king couldn't deny that he expected that sort of answer from her.

"It would be unfortunate if our clothes were to be ruined by the downpour," he persisted, looking down at his rich attire consisting largely of a plush white robe and a pair of matching white pants.

"It's just water. It's not like our clothes are gonna evaporate if they get a little wet," Daisy retorted, only serving to displease her father as he gave up on trying to hold some form of light conversation with her. And Daisy didn't mind the silence at all.

If anything, Daisy was looking forward to seeing some rain on this trip. She honestly liked the sound of it pattering against her surroundings and looking at it was always calming, not to mention the smell of a wet environment was rather appealing most of the time; something about the oddly dusty aroma was pleasant, and considering Toad Town's almost perpetual sunshine, it had been a long time since Daisy had the pleasure of the scent surrounding her.

It wasn't long before the plane had descended far enough to break through the clouds and Daisy was able to see that the gray sky stretched all the way out to Stardust Fields, resting right at the land's northern boundary. Daisy knew that the kingdom wasn't very large, but the fact that a single raincloud was able to span it from border to border really put things into perspective.

The landing was completely flawless, an impressive feat in Daisy's eyes as she realized that the rain was quite heavy once the plane slowed to a stop in front of the airport's gate. Thank goodness. The thicker the rain, the better. And watching her dad freak out as he tried to keep the soles of his shoes dry would be entertaining. The man hated the slightest threat of water touching his clothes. While he was still wearing them at least.

"I suppose we could have agreed upon a better date," King Sarasa mumbled as he stared at the sky outside of his window, as if his disapproving stare would make the clouds stop producing rain. And when the clouds seemed to utterly ignore him, he simply closed the window's shutter, rejecting the clouds in return.

"Yeah, like _next_ Saturday maybe," Daisy muttered in response as she kept looking out of her wide open shutter, as if to simply spite her father. "But my oh my, it appears that we will actually have to walk in the 'heaven's falling filth like dirty paupers'. Such a shame. And I was so looking forward to tea time out on the ramada, but it seems we will have to pass on the pleasure."

...How in the world did Sarasa inherit such a daughter? She openly mocked him and the royal status as a whole constantly and yet, _she_ was to be the next queen of Sarasaland. At the very least she could _pretend_ to be interested in the sort of life she would one day lead.

But those were her rebellious teenage years after all...even though she'd been acting that way since she was about six years old... Oh, whatever. She would grow out of it once she realized that she would have to worry about matters such as walking in rain and observing social pastimes that aided in the construction of relationships.

Sarasa would just have to stay steady through the weekend and put up with his daughter's endless sarcasm. She was there for one reason after all, though Sarasa was beginning to wonder if his daughter would act favorably in front of her hosts. This _was_ her first diplomatic visit; if she was as cross with the Beanbean royal family as she was with him, that whole venture may only serve to work against him.

"Daisy, I know you're upset about having to miss that...Sporting Day or whatever it was, but I implore that you remain on your absolute best behavior in front of our hosts," Sarasa pleaded with a stern voice, causing his daughter to look over her shoulder at him with a frown for a brief time before looking back outside.

"I'm not a kid anymore Dad," Daisy retorted. "I know how important this visit is for our kingdom. Just because I'm not really happy with you right now doesn't mean I'm going to take it out on Queen Bean and Prince Peasley too."

"If you weren't a kid, you would be mature enough to deal with the fact that you had to miss something you favored for something that was crucial for the future of you and your people," Sarasa shot back, nailing Daisy with the rather harsh statement. "There are things in the world more important than playing games all day Daisy, and it seems you've yet to understand that. So until you've proven that you _do_ understand, I _will_ treat you like a child. And so I repeat, I implore you to remain on your _best_ behavior these next two days."

Ouch... Sarasa had never spoken to his daughter quite like that before... But while he did make his own point, he seemed to completely miss Daisy's point altogether.

Sports Day didn't just mean playing games and having fun all day. ...Well, it kind of did, but that was only a plus next to the fact that, had she been able to attend the event, she'd have been able to go with her friends, pretty much the only other people in the world that cared about her besides her own family.

Luigi and Peach and Mario...it was doubtful that Toad would be there, but still, they were like her alternate family. Sure, she'd only known them for a week, but they were easily gems amongst the rough society of the high school setting that consistently succeeded in making life just that much more enjoyable. And having to leave them with no notice...not even being able to call them to tell them she wouldn't be able to make it (thanks to her father's strict rule of "No cell phones" during the trip)...it felt like she lied to them all. Especially since she was the one that seemed the most excited about the event in the first place.

She mostly thought about how Luigi must have been doing at the time. She managed to get him to promise to try at least a few of the other sports as long as she played by his side so he'd be more comfortable. And he actually seemed excited. Excited at the thought of go kart racing against Daisy and playing some basketball alongside her. He even told her that he was looking forward to Sports Day more than ever since Daisy stepped up and challenged him to extend his horizons beyond soccer. And now, she wasn't even there...

Because there were more important people to meet than her own "family" away from her family... There were more important matters at hand than helping a previously meek individual break out of his shell and stand with him as he attempted to branch out and do things he'd never challenged himself to do before...

Why did it have to be that way? Why couldn't she work for the advancement of her land _and_ for the advancement of a single person that was important to her at the same time? Ugh. Being a princess that couldn't even make her own decisions yet was already seeming to take its toll on Daisy. How would it be once she was Queen? ...No, it was bad enough that these things already plagued her mind; thoughts about her days as Queen deserved to be quarantined until an undetermined future date. For now, well, it was time to depart. A limousine sent to pick the royal pair up and deliver them to the castle in as dry a fashion as possible waited on the tarmac and the stewardess made her reappearance in the cabin.

"King Sarasa, Princess Daisy, the escorts have arrived and are waiting just outside the door," she informed with a slight bow as Sarasa got to his feet. "Despite the weather, I hope you have a pleasant visit with the Beanbean royal family."

Appearing to ignore Kasey's well wishes, Sarasa walked by her in complete silence, reaching the doorway of the plane just as Daisy stood up herself. In the back of her mind, Kasey was dearly hoping that Daisy would show her courteous side once again and say something in response, but when the young princess slowly walked by the attendant without so much as a single word, she couldn't help but feel slightly crestfallen. That was how royalty could be sometimes though. One minute they were kind and spoke with a friendly nature and the next, they pretended as if nothing existed but them.

The princess did seem to look oddly distant though. Something had to be on her mind.

–

Wow, everyone in the Beanbean Castle certainly seemed...unanimated that morning. The Beanish guards that lined the hallways let their spears lean toward the ground a bit and some slouched so much that the maskings on their helmets snapped shut (and, for the most part, they didn't even bother lifting them back up). It was only when Sarasa and Daisy walked through the rather chilly foyer that everyone attempted to rile themselves into something of an alert position and give formal salutes to the passing royalty. The very second that they could drop their act though, it was obvious that they were trying very hard not to collapse on the spot. Sarasa would most definitely inquire the queen about the strange behavior right away, but Daisy found herself rather unable to care. As a matter of fact, she looked just as vacant as everyone around her.

Even as the visiting duo stepped into the conference room, where the local royal family awaited them near the far wall, the level of energy seemed to remain just as low. King Sarasa observed that Lady Lima was hardly awake, her eyes remaining closed underneath her slender yellow cloak as she slowly wavered back and forth, threatening to fall over at any moment. The queen's fatigue wasn't quite as noticeable of course, for she could just as easily have been asleep at that very moment, her pink dress serving as a blanket over her large, perfectly round body that seemed to be a great platform for erect slumber. Only the youngest of the group, the teenager only a couple years older than Daisy, seemed to be awake at all really.

"King Sarasa, it's nice to see you again," the young Prince Peasley greeted with quite the bright smile, stepping forward to shake the king's hand before taking a glance over at the man's daughter, who didn't seem to notice he was there. It wasn't until Peasley grabbed her hand and laid a kiss on it that Daisy even realized that she was in the room. "And it's my pleasure to meet you Princess Daisy," he said, looking rather deeply into Daisy's eyes, bringing her distant gaze back into the present. Observing the Beanish fellow's yellow hair, his clothes that resembled those of a knight (right down to a red cape bound at the neck by a golden pendant), and the sheathed sword at his side, the image suddenly seemed to remind Daisy that she was meeting the royal family of a foreign land.

"It's nice to meet you too," Daisy responded with a small curtsy, attempting to mask the fact that she was thinking about Luigi that entire time. Peasley made sure to draw her attention towards him though, for he soon informed his guests about just why everyone seemed so dead that morning.

"I hope you can excuse the lack of liveliness around here," Peasley said as he looked over at his mother and her aide, neither of whom moved an inch since Sarasa and Daisy entered the room. "We had a very busy night and not everyone was able to rest very well."

"I hope all the activity wasn't on our account," King Sarasa mentioned as a nearby guard abruptly fell to the ground, his armor letting out a loud clank as he proceeded to sleep on the tiled floor.

"As a matter of fact, we worked all night for the fair princess," Peasley answered, shooting a smile over at Daisy as he began to lead the pair out of the room. The father and daughter glanced at each other for a moment before following him, wondering what in the world they would have done just for Daisy.

"A little bird swung by and told us that you were forced to miss an event that was important to you in order to be here Daisy," Peasley informed as the group headed down another hallway of inattentive guards. "Something called 'Sports Day' if I'm correct."

"Yeah," Daisy spoke up, "But...it wasn't really that important. You didn't have to stay up all night just for me."

"It was no trouble at all," Peasley ensured with a small chuckle, turning the group down another hallway that contained a smaller amount of guards. "It was actually pretty fun working alongside the guards. I've discovered they're quite the motley bunch once they get the chance to do more than just stand around and look after the castle."

As the trio pressed on, Daisy came to see that Peasley was actually a pretty stand-up guy. Despite what she initially expected him to be (a snotty, snobbish, spoiled prince), Peasley proved that he was actually more in tune with reality than most. While being perfectly aware that he was a prince and that he would have to take initiative at times when it came to the well being of his people, he didn't let his status stop him from relating with those that he held social priority over. Peasley was actually friends with most of his guards, and quite a number of people residing in the Beanbean Castle Town simply adored him; it wasn't a rare occurrence for him to leave the castle and walk about the town, something he considered as a good strategy, for it allowed him to have some face time with the villagers; he was able to hear local concerns, complaints, comments, and simply have some friendly small talk all at the same time. The practice made him easily the most popular individual in pretty much all of the kingdom (for he also visited every other town and city for similar purposes) and, really, it was pretty hard not to like him.

Who knew. Daisy was actually beginning to think that the visit wouldn't be all that bad after all.

"Here it is. Our newly created 'Game Room'," Peasley announced with a chuckle and a showy flip of his hair that seemed to somehow light up the entire room. Though the effeminate gesture served to put off Daisy a fair bit, her attention was soon drawn to the massive room that rested before her.

Roughly the size of a football field, the space was filled with video game machines, billiard tables, carnival game stands, all kinds of things that served to entertain any guests that wandered within (there was even a go-kart course that wound its way through the room and occasionally poked outside). It was truly a wonder how in the world they could set up such an extravagant establishment in the span of a single night, _and_ manage to hire a staff to run the place, but Daisy had to admit, she didn't really care how they accomplished the feat. Observing everything before her, she not only appreciated all of the work that took place in her honor, but she was beginning to feel a bit more excited. Sure, all of that wasn't exactly what she would have set up as a replacement for Sport Day, but it was all designed for basically the same purpose: to have fun.

As she looked around though, Daisy quickly remembered just what made Sports Day so special to her: the community. Sure, that room had enough to entertain a large portion of the Beanbean Castle Town, but that didn't mean that the people of the town were actually there with her. Really, what was the point of having such a substantial amount of entertainment when it would only be available to a very select few people? The whole thing just seemed to contradict itself really. And Sarasa's and Peasley's sudden decision to depart didn't do anything to help the situation at all.

"This room is all well and good Peasley," Sarasa commented with the slightest hint of disdain, obviously upset to see that the royal family toiled so much to create such a place without first informing him, "But I believe we should return here later. We've yet to greet your mother and her aide after all; it's only proper manners to meet with them before moving on to...games and such," he concluded, clearing his throat uncomfortably as he turned to exit.

"Of course Sarasa," Peasley agreed cheerily as he clapped his hands together. "I only wished to show our fair princess the result of our night's work."

"Yes, well, I'm sure she's excited to explore it, but we are here for...other reasons," Sarasa spoke carefully as he began to leave the room alongside the young prince, who immediately knew that the king wasn't terribly excited about the new establishment. Sarasa's dislike for the room didn't put Peasley off in the slightest however; he was actually rather tickled that the jaded king disapproved of it. All the more reason to try and get him to warm up to it later on down the line.

Daisy stayed behind as the two men made their way out of the room, quickly wrapping each other in conversation as they went along. It seemed rather easy for them to forget about her as they began to pontificate about past visits and the young princess didn't mind in the slightest that she was soon left alone in the large room.

With the various forms of entertainment strewn about before her, she felt almost like she was forced to step forward and walk throughout the provided pathways. Gazing here and there blankly, she began to wonder just what was going on back in Toad Town at that moment. She wondered if Mario and Peach were playing tennis together like they said they would, or if Luigi was pushing himself to participate in more than just a couple of soccer matches...

Daisy hoped he was. That kid held himself back so much when it came to trying new things... If only he made an attempt, he might find that he was pretty good at performing outside of his comfort zone. But, if she was to be honest with herself, Daisy couldn't expect Luigi to do it. Knowing him...well, he was probably spending his time looking for her. Everyone was probably looking for her. And their efforts would end up being fruitless, no matter how hard they tried to find her.

Finding a bench situated just outside of a bumper car arena, Daisy sat herself down and gave a sweeping scan of her immediate vicinity with a small sigh. Somehow, looking at such a room filled to the brim with entertainment yet completely devoid of actual life was rather depressing. Really, what was the point of its existence, besides to act as a substitute for Daisy's missed day? She would have to leave sometime. What would happen to the place then?

Hm. Well, it didn't really matter. The future of the area wasn't any concern of hers anyway...even if it was brought about thanks to her. It wasn't like she asked for it... All she wanted was to stay home... Wake up that morning in her comfy bed... Head out to the park... And while the day away with her friends and her family...

I'm so sorry guys... I wish I could have at least been able to tell you that I couldn't be there... You have no idea how much I want to be with you all though...

_Come on Daisy, don't worry about it. It's not your fault._

Daisy was so deep in thought at that moment, she could swear that she heard Luigi's voice answering her. It sounded so real, so alive...he could have just as easily been sitting right next to her, giving off that cute little smile he unconsciously wore whenever he spoke to her. Daisy wondered if he ever even noticed that he did it. Whether or not he did though, Daisy had to admit, she adored that smile...

But I made such a big deal about it, and now I'm not even there to experience it with you. I feel so bad about it.

_It's okay Daisy. You have personal obligations that you need to take care of. You have priorities in your own life that don't involve us._

I don't want them though... I don't want any of this.

_Then what do you want?_

I want to be back home... I want to be with my family and my friends...with you.

_With me?_

Yeah...I really want to see you again. I never realized just how different things seem when you're around. I know, it's kinda weird...but everything just seems better when I'm with you. I mean, you always know how to make me smile, and...well... Ugh, it feels weird just thinking about this. Here I am, hundreds of miles away from you...mmm. I've never felt this way before.

_Who are you Daisy?_

Who am I? What do you mean? I'm Daisy. You already know that.

_You're keeping a secret from me though. You're not who you want me to think you are. What are you hiding?_

I'm not hiding anything from you. I'm just a fourteen year old girl. That's it.

_You're lying._

I live in Toad Town with my aunt and uncle and my little cousin... What am I lying about?

_Where are you right now?_

I'm in the...oh...right...

_Tell me the truth Daisy. Tell me why you aren't here with me right now if you really wish you could be. Because right now, I honestly don't see why you aren't._

I've never told anyone about my heritage though. Nobody's supposed to know about it.

_You can trust me Daisy. I swear your secret will be kept safe with me._

I know I can trust you. I just don't want you to think differently of me because of it. So you'd better not start acting all weird once I tell you, alright?

_I thought I already acted all weird around you._

Well, yeah, you do, but don't act any weirder than you normally do.

_I'll try not to._

Daisy could swear she was going out of her mind as the invisible, unspoken conversation that existed solely in her thoughts persisted. To her though, the dialogue felt and even sounded as real as if it were taking place right then and there. But even in her own mind, Daisy found it difficult to converse with the boy, for her own thoughts and concerns constantly seeped their way into Luigi's words.

Was she really developing such feelings for him? And if she was, how should she go about letting him know and being honest with him about herself? Would he be able to accept the fact that Daisy was a princess? And what about her father...? God, she didn't even want to know what he would have to say about it. His daughter falling for a commoner...that was one thing he certainly didn't want. And he never had to worry about it since Daisy never did seem to care about boys or dating or anything of the sort. But things were different now... How would he take it?

So many questions and so many obstacles barring the way...at the moment, those feelings felt more like a burden than anything. She'd always known that infatuation was a double-edged sword, but she never would have guessed that one edge could make her feel so awkward and uncertain. All she wanted was to see Luigi and be able to speak with him but she simply couldn't, and knowing that just tore her apart. She could think and she could wonder all she wanted, she could fantasize and plan and do anything with her imagination, but until she was able to actually talk with the boy...well, that was all that she could do. Action would have to wait for later, and waiting wasn't something that Daisy liked to do.

"Ah, there you are," the prince's voice rang out from a short distance away, snapping Daisy out of her daydream. "I was wondering where you disappeared to."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Daisy apologized immediately as she stood from the bench. "I just wanted to have a quick look around."

"Well I hope you like it, I think we'll be spending a fair amount of time in here," Peasley hinted with a smile, prompting a forced grin in return from Daisy. "We should be heading for the conference room though; your father seemed pretty upset that you stayed back here."

"What a shocker," Daisy mumbled nearly inaudibly as Peasley turned to lead her out of the room. Before she went to follow him though, Daisy gave an over-the-shoulder glance back to the bench. And sitting there with a smile on his face, acting as a figment of her imagination, Luigi waved goodbye shortly before disappearing back into the recesses of Daisy's mind. Daisy gave a faint frown as she swore that she felt her heart literally sink into her chest.

Those feelings...brand new to her and causing her such pain right off the bat... It began to feel like that weekend would never end.


	16. The Arrangement

**Cascore's Note: Wow. Over 100 reviews. I'm gonna be honest, I never thought I would have a story that would ever hit 100 reviews. Thank you all so much for your continued support; I truly appreciate every single review you guys send me. I can only hope that my story continues in a fashion that urges more of you to press that button at the bottom and leave a few words, whether they're meant to support or criticize, anything is appreciated. So please, read on, and as always, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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**Chapter 16: "The Arrangement"**

"So have you told her yet Sarasa?" Peasley asked the old king as the pair strolled down one of the many castle hallways. The paths were dark, for it was after hours and most of the palace was dimmed down in favor of allowing its inhabitants to rest peacefully. Only a few guards stood watch that night, most having already departed for their quarters, allowing Peasley and Sarasa to chat with a relative amount of privacy.

"I haven't," Sarasa muttered in response, quickly clearing his throat uncomfortably shortly afterward. "She still doesn't know."

"Tsk tsk King Sarasa, what's taking so long?" Peasley asked with a chuckle, causing the king to look away and grumble to himself quietly. "You've had eleven years to let her know. She's going to have to find out sometime."

"I know Peasley," Sarasa mumbled with a slight hint of irritation just before giving an exasperated sigh. "It's not that easy for me to tell Daisy something like this though. The girl's bull-headed and telling her about the arrangement certainly won't be a smooth experience."

"Then perhaps I should fill her in myself," Peasley offered as he slowly brought the pair to a stop just a few feet away from a bedroom door that had two guards looking after it. "She seems to have warmed up to me a bit. And besides, if she does get upset, she can't plausibly take it out on me now can she?" he added with a chuckle, much to the displeasure of Sarasa, though he knew that the statement was true; it may have been easy for Daisy to act harsh towards her father, but she proved to at least have the courtesy to feign politeness in the face of her hosts. Besides, she was smart enough to figure out where to place blame, and in this scenario it certainly wasn't Peasley's fault.

Sarasa stood back as Peasley approached the door, making sure to pass a friendly greeting to the guards as he did so, and knocked on it rather softly several times. Unconsciously sidestepping his way over to the wall in some kind of attempt to conceal himself, Sarasa observed as the door opened up and Peasley put on a bright smile.

"I hope I haven't disturbed you Princess," Peasley spoke up, glad to see that Daisy hadn't yet changed out of her dress for the night.

"You haven't," Daisy responded with a rather forced smile, but good enough to pass as genuine in the eyes of Peasley. Even though she'd spent basically the entire day with the young man, Daisy never could get herself to completely warm up to Peasley. Sure, he was a pretty decent guy and he always had something interesting to talk about, but his overconfident disposition felt grating at best and there was just something about him that kept Daisy from fully trusting him as an individual. Of course, she never gave off any signs to let him know that he put her off quite a bit simply for the sake of being polite. Keeping up the act was beginning to challenge her though, for she was really beginning to get sick of seeing him so often during her day. "Do you need me for something?"

"I've just come by to ask if you would like to accompany me for a night on the town," Peasley informed with a subtle flip of his hair that only served to deter Daisy from wanting to agree to come along. "There's a Starbeans Cafe nearby if you're interested. We can sit down and have a chat over some coffee or hot cocoa and learn a bit more about each other."

Daisy thought she already knew enough about Peasley as it was; she'd just spent roughly ten hours with him after all, and all the while he just seemed to go on and on about himself. Of course, his stories were mostly interesting, but did she really want to sit through even more possible rambling about himself just for the sake of being polite? That certainly wasn't how she wanted to end her night.

Hm. Her father was standing nearby though, she just knew it. She didn't have to see him to know that he was silently observing and secretly praying that his daughter would say yes. And that weekend, well, it was basically for him after all, and Daisy would do what her father wished of her if only to prove that she could take her obligations seriously. And unfortunately, making friends with Peasley was an obligation.

"I'd love to join you Peasley, it sounds like fun," Daisy lied through her teeth in as pleasant a voice as she could muster. "I just need to freshen up a bit first." And by "freshen up," she meant take a seat and mentally prepare herself for the experience to come.

With a cheerful nod and the shared plan to meet in the main hallway once they were both ready, Peasley departed to rejoin Daisy's father and continue their walk down the hallways. Daisy soon closed the door to her room and let out a sigh that she'd been holding in since she discovered that Peasley was paying her a visit.

Dropping herself onto a stool that rested in front of a vanity and next to a window overlooking the town, Daisy decided she may as well brush her hair a bit so she could at least look like she was touching up her appearance. Staring out of the window as she groomed her hair, she discovered that the rain had actually come to a stop for the first time since she arrive in the kingdom, allowing quite the conveniently perfect window of opportunity to leave the castle and head over to the popular cafe.

In the back of her mind, Daisy wished that the rain would pick up once again, and with great force at that. She wanted the clouds in the sky to favor her just this once and bring on a downpour of torrential magnitude that would give Daisy a reason to want to stay indoors.

But, of course, that didn't happen. As a matter of fact, things looked to be clearing up outside of that bedroom window; Daisy was even able to spot a star or two beyond the thinning cloud cover. Why the weather had to wait until just then to start getting better Daisy would never know, but she guessed that it didn't really matter in the end anyway. If it did continue to rain, Peasley probably would have just picked a location within the castle to talk... Probably even in Daisy's own room... And _that_ would certainly feel comfortable...

Perhaps it was a good thing that the rain had stopped. At least at the cafe there would be other things Daisy could focus on if Peasley got to rambling again. People watching, reading the large menu behind the counter, staring out the window, all while giving the prince the satisfaction of having an ear to talk at... Being able to multitask was a great thing.

Well, there wasn't much point in sitting around any longer. Daisy already had something of a game plan to survive the outing and was in the right mental state to bear it all; nothing left to do at that point but get up and make her way out to the rendezvous point where Peasley would greet her with one of his dazzling smiles and proceed to chatter as he led the way out to Starbeans Cafe. It wouldn't be until the pair arrived at their destination that Daisy realized it may have been a good idea to at least change into some casual clothes, but when one entered a public establishment of any kind with Prince Peasley at their side, it really didn't matter what they were wearing, they would be stared at and bombarded with greetings regardless.

It was pretty amazing to think how much Daisy disliked being in Peasley's company as she observed his interactions with all of those people. Smiles and friendly conversation, personal comments that proved that Peasley remembered everyone he spoke with ("How's little Freddy doing?", "I'd love to hear you play the flute again sometime."), he backed up the claim of being the most social individual in all of the kingdom, and it was nice to see that he actually bothered to remember everyone. But Daisy was willing to bet that not a single one of those people spent ten straight hours with the boy... That amount of time would have been enough to warrant the act avoiding him as much as possible.

"What can I get you tonight 'Princely'?" the cashier asked once Peasley and Daisy approached.

He had a nickname that melded his title and his real name together flawlessly...how cute...and oddly sickening.

"I'm feeling like a Teehee Blend tonight," Peasley answered with a smile. "If you could throw in a few extra Hee Beans, that would be great."

"Anything for you Princely," the cashier responded before taking a glance over at Daisy, just barely missing her slight cringe in response to the nickname. "And who's your lovely lady friend tonight?"

"Lovely lady friend"? Why did it feel so weird to be called that?

"This is Princess Daisy," Peasley informed as Daisy gave a small curtsy, nearly forgetting her manners for a moment. "She's visiting from Sarasaland for the weekend."

Something in his voice sounded incredibly suggestive as he spoke and the cashier reacted in a suspiciously corresponding way. The Beanish man behind the counter gave Daisy an odd look as a smile occupied his face.

"Well, it's certainly a pleasure to finally get to meet you Princess," he spoke up, prompting a raised eyebrow from Daisy in return. What did he mean by that? Was he waiting for the day he would see her with his own eyes or something? God, what the heck was going on here; everything suddenly felt so suspicious.

Only serving to heighten Daisy's curiosity, Peasley soon shook his head at the cashier with a knowing smile on his face. "She doesn't know yet," he said simply, the words appearing to click with the cashier as if they were speaking in some kind of code.

Uh...what didn't Daisy know exactly?

"Oh, I see... Well Your Highness, what drink can I brew up for you tonight?" the cashier asked. Suddenly remembering that she was there to order a beverage, Daisy glanced up at the overhead menu behind the employee and picked out the first selection she saw.

"I guess I'll take the Hoolumbian," Daisy ordered before quickly returning her mind to the suspicious exchange that took place just moments ago. Before she could ask though, Peasley dropped several coins on the counter, insisting that the cashier keep the change, and whisked Daisy away to a window-side table. Being the gentleman he was, Peasley made sure to pull out Daisy's seat for her before sitting on his own on the other side of the table. And the moment he was settled...he flipped his hair yet again.

Why did he always have to do that...? Ah whatever, that wasn't important. At that moment, Daisy's goal was to decipher the exchange of words that took place only moments ago.

"What-"

"So Princess..." Peasley cut Daisy off with a rather quiet voice, not noticing that she was just about to speak. "Tell me...what do you think of the life you lead?"

"Uh...what do you mean?" Daisy asked, furrowing her eyebrows slightly in confusion.

Peasley leaned forward over the table slightly, resting his elbow on the edge as he held his chin and appeared to contemplate something rather deeply. As he did this, Daisy noticed that this was the first time all day that Peasley actually wasn't smiling, something she would have sworn was impossible for him by that point. His face was sternly straight and, after several seconds, he finally spoke up once again.

"You see Princess, the way I view it...being royalty...it's all just one big game," he said with a sincerely serious tone, another first for him that day. "Everything in our lives is done for business and business alone. We're like pieces on a chess board, and every move and decision we make is always going to have its positives and its negatives. For our entire lives, we're always working toward one goal: to have the strongest, most stable kingdom we can possibly manage.

"As a part of this game, certain arrangements must be made to ensure the best interests of allied kingdoms," Peasley continued, maintaining his solemn voice as Daisy intently paid attention to what he was saying. "Arrangements can be anything from friendly visits, like the one you're on right now, to much grander occasions...like...marriages."

Daisy's heart immediately sank the moment Peasley uttered that last word. She felt that she knew...she finally knew what the real point of that entire visit was. Before she jumped to any conclusions though, she let Peasley finish what he was saying, holding her breath and praying that he wouldn't utter what she thought he was about to impart next. But, of course, her prayers were left unanswered.

"I'm still amazed that Sarasa never told you this," Peasley pressed on with a small sigh, "But when you were three and I was five, your father and my mother had a discussion one day and decided that, in the interest of the bond between our two kingdoms, you and I...should be wed once we reached the proper age."

...

That was it. Daisy was going to do such illegal things to that man that the law would disallow her to be the future queen despite her heritage.

What in the _hell_ was Sarasa thinking!? Planned marriage? _Planned...marriage_!? No no no no no no no, _marriage_ was not something that you _planned_ for your _three year old daughter_! _Picnics..._were planned! _Nights out with friends..._were planned! _Pep rallies that nobody ever liked to attend at school..._were planned! A ceremony that decided who your daughter was going to spend the rest of her entire life with as an involved couple before she was even old enough to know what a boy was...?

_That. Was not. PLANNED!!_

So it was perfectly understandable when Daisy abruptly stood from her seat and stormed out of the cafe without a single word, leaving Peasley behind to hope beyond hope that Sarasa would be able to escape his daughter's wrath with all limbs and organs still attached and properly functioning. The king was certainly in for a surprise once Daisy found his room.

...Well, if she _could_ find his room.

It wasn't until Daisy spent several minutes wandering almost aimlessly that she realized that she never did pay attention to the layout of the large castle; she only knew the locations of her own room, the main hallway, the conference room, and the game room. There were at least half a dozen other hallways that she didn't even know existed until she stalked the castle that night, and wondering where she even was throughout her search didn't help at all to keep her fury burning brightly within her.

Where the hell was this guy? Ugh, that whole search was getting ridiculous. Thankfully Daisy managed to stumble upon a guard that was keeping watch over one of the hallways and, upon asking where King Sarasa's room was, he was able to point her in the right direction. With a quick thanks, Daisy headed off immediately, down one hallway, taking a right at the next, straight through all the way to the west wing of the castle, up another hallway, the second door on the right. Finally...

As she knocked on the door as loudly as she could, Daisy hoped that her father would feel grateful when he saw her. If it weren't for her ten minutes of speed walking all over the place she would still have enough energy to properly kick his ass for the news that was just imparted to her; by now she would settle for simply chewing him out and refusing to go through with the marriage.

Sarasa seemed to know exactly what to expect as he opened his bedroom door. He didn't hesitate in swinging the door fully open and looking dead into his furious daughter's eyes.

"I take it Peasley's informed you-"

"Yes he did," Daisy cut her father off with quite the acidic tone, unconsciously clenching her fists into tight balls as she spoke. "What? Were you too _scared_ to eventually tell me after _eleven years_ that _Peasley_ was scheduled to be my future _husband_? Are you really _that_ much of a coward?"

"That's enough Daisy-"

"Oh..._no_! _You_ are not about to tell _me_ what's 'enough'!" Daisy hissed as she took a bold step toward her father, closing the gap between the two considerably as she was forced to arch her neck upward to continue looking him in the eye. "I'm willing to do certain things just for you Dad, because you're my _father_ and, believe it or not, I _do_ have _some_ respect for you," she continued, causing nearby guards to turn away uncomfortably, preferring to ignore the scene. "But I am _not_ – _**not**_ – about to let _you_, or _anyone else_, decide something that's as important – as _sacred_ – as who I'm going to _marry_ for me. _That_ is a decision that _I_ will make when I'm ready to make it!"

"No it isn't Daisy," Sarasa retorted simply, bringing a look of incredulous disbelief to Daisy's face.

Did he really just say that choosing who she would marry _wasn't_ something that Daisy would do on her own? Oh she just couldn't wait to hear what he had to say to support that.

"I simply can't run the risk of you choosing a suitor that doesn't meet the needs required to run our kingdom," Sarasa explained, keeping his voice on a steadily standard level. "I never anticipated your urge to want to attend public school, but now that you've opted to leave the castle until you're done with school, I know that the decision I've made is the right one. You'll never find a suitable prince amongst commoners."

"Why is everything _business_ to you!?" Daisy shouted in her anger as the brief description of royal life that Peasley gave not long ago proved to be true. "Did you ever once think how I might feel about Peasley!? I don't even like the guy; I can hardly stand being around him-"

"That's merely a secondary concern," Sarasa cut her off coldly, still keeping his same tone of voice. "Peasley has everything we need to keep the kingdom running smoothly when I'm gone. He has diplomatic and executive experience, which Sarasaland will most definitely need, especially considering that _you've_ chosen to completely shirk your formal education in favor of living like a 'normal girl'."

"Don't you ever think with your heart instead of your head?" Daisy asked with a slightly smaller voice, having taken a step back from her father over the course of his talking. Listening to him go on, the memory of Daisy's mother managed to seep into her mind and succeeded in dragging her from an adrenaline high to a sobered emotional low. "This is exactly the reason why Mom is dead now."

The mention of Sarasa's late wife seemed to pierce the king like a dagger; he certainly wasn't expected Daisy to bring that dismal point up, especially considering it happened so long ago... He didn't even know that his daughter remembered the event at all.

"Your mother was ill..." Sarasa muttered defensively. "She was sick for weeks, it was only a matter of time-"

"Mom wasn't sick!" Daisy yelled in a mixture of sorrow, anger, and disappointment that her father never comprehended what happened to his deceased queen. "God Dad, I didn't think that even you could be so ignorant-"

"I will hear no more on the issue," Sarasa interrupted, opting to ignore whatever his daughter was just about to say and end the entire conversation then and there. "Your marriage to Peasley is set and I would appreciate your return to your room so we may both get some decent rest tonight."

Without another word, Sarasa stepped back and closed the door to his room, shutting his daughter out in the dim, cold hallway. A pair of the nearby guards that were previously trying their hardest to thoroughly ignore the situation cautiously stepped in front of the door, directly before the utterly silent (and incredibly intimidating) princess that seemed unable to move from the spot as all sorts of thoughts swarmed her mind. Neither guard thought it would be a good idea to simply ignore her however, and, soon, one of them riled up the courage to step forward and offer the princess an escort back to her room.

"No thanks..." Daisy muttered in response, hesitating several seconds as she turned to leave but left her gaze firmly on the door. "I apologize for the commotion," she soon added before finally setting her feet in motion.

In retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea to accept the escort. Daisy's head was so clouded with thoughts of anger and sorrow, she easily could have walked all over the castle several times without ever finding her room. It was just so infuriating to think about everything...

Daisy didn't know if her father was feigning ignorance or if he honestly didn't know, but the truth behind her mother's death couldn't be hidden from her; she watched the woman die with her own eyes for crying out loud.

At the age of three, evidently around the same time Sarasa arranged Daisy's marriage, Daisy managed to walk in on her mother in her bedroom just as she took a swig of some kind of drink from a rather small vial. Of course, at that age, Daisy had no idea what could possibly be in the small container, leaving her to think that her mother simply took a small drink.

As she remembered, Daisy's mother acted rather oddly that night. The young princess bounded over to her mom's bedside and struggled to climb up and join her in bed. She felt rather lonely that night after all, for her father was away at the time...probably visiting the Beanbean Kingdom to take care of some "business"...and Daisy wanted to sleep with someone by her side after spending virtually the entire day alone.

Her mother... She looked so pathetic that night... It was no wonder she was so easily able to lead everyone to believe she was sick; she hadn't eaten for days and was hardly able to sleep that entire week, causing her to look utterly dilapidated as a result. It hurt Daisy to see her mother in such a condition. And that night, the dying queen imparted her final words to her daughter. Words that would stick in Daisy's mind forever.

"Daisy...my little girl..." the queen said with a weak voice as her daughter snuggled up against her comfortably, looking into her eyes as she spoke. "...You know I love you, right? I always have and I always will..."

"I love you too Mom," Daisy responded. It was odd, Daisy never did follow in the vein of most children; she never called her parents "Mommy" and "Daddy". That fact was neither here nor there however as she recounted the words that her mother imparted to her.

"Love is a very important thing Daisy..." the queen continued, attempting to put a smile on her face, though any kind of movement appeared to pain her as she lied there and spoke. "Without it...you would see that it's very hard to find anything worth living for... We all live because we love something...whether it's life or it's our country or it's our husband or wife...but when we realize that we find it hard to love anything anymore...we find it hard to live at all.

"Honey, when you grow up and get married...make sure it's to someone special, okay? Make sure that the person you marry is someone that you love with all your heart, and that it's someone that loves you just as much...someone that will make you happy and that is willing to do anything just to see you smile... Just promise...that you don't end up like me."

Like her... Like a woman that was forced into a planned marriage herself. Like a queen that poisoned herself, took her own vacant life, because the love she thought she felt for her husband was neither true nor returned at all. She was trapped in a life she didn't want; powerless in the shadow of her king, living as a mere figurehead while others made all the serious decisions, having every material thing in the world she could possibly ask for, yet nothing to hold on to on an emotional level that gave her a feeling of purpose...

But...she had Daisy. Wasn't her daughter enough...? Wasn't the love she felt for her child enough to warrant an attempt at life...? Or did the years of neglect she suffered before Daisy came to be create such a hollow shell out of her that she just couldn't stand it anymore?

Either way, that was a fate that Daisy herself hoped to never meet.

As she finally came upon her bedroom and promptly dropped herself onto her bed, Daisy resolved to try her hardest to deny her father his wish to have her married to Peasley against her will. She would deny him and she would deny the obligations set upon her that came with being a member of the royal family. Daisy would do everything in her power to live her life the way she saw fit, and nothing would get in her way.

Her father would see to it that she didn't have such an easy time doing so however. Even if it meant taking away Daisy's right to the throne once her time to ascend had come.


	17. Super Miscreant Brothers Act Three

**Author's Note: Happy Very-Early-Tuesday-Morning friends and neighbors. I hope everyone that observed Easter this past Sunday had a very fun time.**

**Now read this next chapter. And please enjoy it to your fullest extent.**

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**Chapter 17: "Super Miscreant Brothers Act Three: A Woman's Touch"**

Monday... The slowest day of the week for Joe's Gelateria...

It almost felt pointless to be there. Mona would have easily admitted to being bored out of her wits as she rested on a stool behind the counter and stared up at the suspended television rather blankly, viewing some daytime talk show that she couldn't even hear since, for whatever reason, Manager Joe insisted on keeping the television set muted at all times.

Because that made a lot of sense.

Someone needed to come in. It was two in the afternoon after all. Where were all the high school kids that were just released for the day?

Probably off somewhere that was actually warm.

It was surprisingly chilly that day to be honest. Autumn was still in its early stages but it was obvious a cold front was rolling in. Who would want to come in for ice cream when it was already so frosty outside? And on that note, just how lively would the place be once winter came arou-

_Ding-a-ling-ding._

Ooh, customers.

"Welcome to Joe's Gelateria!" Mona greeted cheerily as she quickly stood from her stool and took her position behind the counter. She was pleasantly surprised to see such a large group stroll in: two Human boys, two Human girls, one Toad boy and one Toad girl, all of whom looked to be around the same age. Mona could only hope that they decided to eat in the restaurant; eavesdropping on their conversations would certainly be more entertaining that staring at a silent television. "What can I get you all today?"

Two vanilla scoops on cones for the blond girl and the boy in red, one scoop of chocolate on a cone for the boy in green, one order of strawberry in a cup for the brunette girl and a banana split for the two Toads to share. Apparently not the most adventurous group there ever was, but at least the orders were easy.

Twenty-eight coins was the total tender for the group, and, to Mona's pleasure, they all decided to stay and gather around a nearby booth until they were done with their treats. Of course, Mona had to pretend that she wasn't listening in (soon going back to her stool and staring back up at the television), but the next several minutes of background conversation was definitely welcome after nearly half an hour of utter silence. And the subject matter of the chat proved to be quite interesting.

Evidently, the Toad girl just got out of the hospital the previous day and she was living with her boyfriend. That must have been an interesting living arrangement for a pair of teenagers. Her boyfriend's parents must have _really_ trusted them.

And it was so obvious that the boy in red and the blond girl liked each other; playful hints were constantly tossed between the two and almost everything they said was tailored toward one another. It was pretty amazing they weren't going out with each other; they seemed to be really close from what Mona could observe.

The same went for the brunette girl and the boy in green. They weren't quite as obvious as the other two, but there was definitely a subtle spark between them.

Oh, she just took a lick of his ice cream. Well, that was pretty bold of her. Maybe they weren't that subtle after all. Aw, how cute; she just fed some of her own ice cream to him! How in the world weren't they a couple? They just seemed so adorable toge-

"Hey Mona, you clean the bathrooms yet?"

What? ...Oh. It was Joe. Of course that silly Dog would show up and ask about the bathrooms when Mona finally had customers to listen to.

"Not quite yet Joe," Mona answered her spectacled, blue-vested manager as he walked over to the ice cream counter.

"Well your shift's almost over, so just make sure the bathrooms are all nice and tidy and up to code and everything before you clock out," Joe said as he put on his white hat, ready to take up Mona's position at the counter.

Ah man...did she have to leave? For the first time all day there was something interesting going on...

Reluctantly, Mona stood up from her stool and began to slump her way toward the door leading out of the work station. On her way, she made sure to playfully bump into Joe and let out a falsely exasperated groan, to which Joe would reply with a simple smile. Mona always did that after a slow day of work, showing off her relief about finally being allowed to head home.

Dawdling ever so slightly to squeeze everything she could out of the nearby conversation, Mona made her way over to the men's bathroom first (may as well get the overall more intimidating of the rooms out of the way). She made sure to knock first of course, following up with poking her head inside and asking if anyone was there (though it was quite obvious nobody was) before finally stepping in and giving her sweeping inspection of the surroundings. Thankfully, the place was quite spotless, still retaining its cleanliness due to sheer lack of activity.

Checking off the men's room from her mental "to-do" list, Mona promptly escaped the uncomfortable area and walked next door to the more familiar ladies' room. Just as empty as the men's room, Mona felt free to walk amongst the stalls and make sure everything was up to code. Seeing that the first two were fine and expecting the same out of the third in the back of the room, Mona mentally prepared herself to go ahead and leave, switching her thoughts over to figuring out what to do with the rest of her day. Before she could come up with a solid plan though, she heard the door to the room open up and a pair of voices enter the room.

"Whoa, slow down Peach. What's up with you all of a sudden?" one of the voices spoke up with a chuckle.

"Daisy...they just asked us out on a date..." the second voice answered with something of a worried tone.

Ooh, that was definitely interesting... Perhaps Mona could stick around just a bit longer in that back stall...

"I'm not really sure what to say..." Peach continued on. She was evidently pacing, for Mona could hear several footsteps coming from the one part of the room.

"'Yes' might be good," Daisy responded laughingly. "You're always talking about how much you like Mario. Here's your chance to go out with him."

"I know..." Peach said with a long sigh that hinted a certain dreaminess and worry at the same time. "But...if we do start going out with each other...I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep the fact that I'm a princess a secret. I mean-"

Hold on a second there. A _princess_? ...Did Mona hear her correctly? Did Peach really just say what Mona thought she said!?

...No way. _No_._ Way_! Hoooly crap, there was an honest-to-God _princess_ standing mere feet away from her at that very moment! What in the world was she doing in a puny little ice cream shop like that!? She was the type of person that could buy her own-

Wait, shut up. They weren't finished talking yet. This was too good to miss out on.

"Then just tell him Peach; that's what I plan to do with Luigi," Daisy responded rather nonchalantly.

"Really?" Peach spoke up rather incredulously. "I thought your father wanted you to keep it secret too though."

"Who cares what my father wants," Daisy muttered with a hint of anger in her voice. "He wants me to marry Prince Peasley when I graduate. Doesn't mean I'm gonna do it."

Wow...so the other girl was a princess too...and it sounded like she had some serious drama going on in her life. Man, that conversation was getting really good. It sounded like a situation straight out of a novel or something; it felt too unreal to even believe it was actually happening. Huh, that long day of work was finally paying off it seemed...

"Don't tell me that your father set up a planned marriage for you..." Peach said, only to be met by a small groan from Daisy.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now."

No no, please do! Pleeeaaase! Mona was absolutely dying to hear more; overhearing stuff like that was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence!

"But I'll tell you everything later. Right now we should probably give these boys some answers," Daisy suggested, lightening her tone a fair bit as she forced thoughts of her father out of her mind. "They're probably sweating out there waiting for us."

Oh fine...

"You're right..." Peach muttered in response. "...But I'm nervous Daisy. I've never been on a date before..."

"Neither have I," Daisy admitted brightly. "It can't be that bad though can it? It's pretty much just hanging out with the possibility of a kiss at the end of the night."

"A kiss... But what if I'm not a good kisser?"

"I guess you won't know until you kiss him," Daisy spoke in a rather hurried voice, evidently urging Peach to get over her insecurities so they could leave the bathroom already. "If it would make you feel better, we can practice on each other later, 'kay?"

What!?

"What!?" Peach mirrored Mona's thoughts.

"I'm kidding! Come on, let's go! Move move move!" Daisy commanded cheerily as she literally pushed Peach out of the door, and in a few moments the room was empty and quiet once again, allowing Mona a comfortable pocket of time to step out of her stall excitedly and quickly follow the two out the door. Using the guise of clocking out from behind the counter, she'd be able to witness the two princesses give their answers to those two lucky boys.

Judging by the smiles that instantly spread all around the table, it was quickly evident that a date was to take place in the near future. The very near future actually. Eight o' clock that night to be exact; a double date between the four at a pretty nice restaurant that had grown rather popular in Toad Town: a place called "Goombee's". Mona had only been there once before with her family, but she remembered falling in love with the warm and friendly atmosphere of the place instantly. Once she thought about it, that was an excellent choice for a date. She was sure that all four of them would enjoy themselves.

"See ya same time tomorrow Mona," Joe spoke as he leaned against the counter casually, giving a smile that his employee soon returned.

"Bye Joe," Mona responded sweetly, her mood having been lightened significantly thanks to the situation she was lucky enough to witness. She would be leaving the parlor with soaring spirits that day, nearly skipping along as she rushed home to share the few minutes she observed with everyone that awaited her. It was rare that she had an interesting story to tell about work and the thought of actually having one that day made her feel ecstatic.

A pair of princesses... Was she really that close to royalty for those few fleeting minutes? Mona never thought she'd even see members of the royal families let alone actually be in the same room as them...

What if nobody believed her when she shared her story though? She could hardly even believe it herself to be honest; really, how often did actual princesses decide to just visit a regular ice cream shop?

Well, how would she know? Mona had no idea what royalty did in their spare time. They couldn't really be expected to stay within the castle at all times unless they were coming out for a special occasion could they? That'd be an awfully boring life.

Then again, those two did hint that they were keeping their status secret. The boys they were going out with for dinner didn't know they were princesses at all, so it was evident that the girls were probably leading something of a double life.

Ooh, now that was interesting... Regular school girls by day, royal princesses by night perhaps? One minute they're running to a class and the next they're running an entire kingdom. Man, just thinking about it was so exciting!

If only Mona could sit down and talk with one of them about what it was like... She'd probably never even see them again though. Well, unless she decided to be creepy and stalk them to the restaurant that night...

Hm, it wouldn't be creepy if she actually had a reason to go though... Maybe she could ask her parents to take everyone out to Goombee's that night. Who knew, perhaps they'd go for it. Perhaps.

Whether or not they would agree though, Mona would have to wait to ask. It looked like her parents took the kids out on yet another trip in her absence, for their cars were no longer in the driveway. She never particularly minded that she was often left out of the events, but it would have been nice to know that nobody was home at least. But oh well, it didn't really matter much in the end. She would just have to keep her story under wraps for a bit longer until everyone got back.

Hm... Or maybe she didn't.

Not surprisingly (she merely forgot about them for a moment), Mona found that Waluigi and Wario were the only two still in the building once she entered. The two young men proved to be quite the antisocial duo over time, yet they were rarely found separated from each other. It was a wonder what those two boys did for hours on end when they weren't in the orphanage, but it was pretty clear to Mona that they were probably up to some kind of questionable activities when she wasn't keeping an eye on them (Waluigi had yet to give a straight answer as to how his hair got burned away just a few days ago, and Wario seemed to be coming across a fair amount of money as of late). Neither of those facts mattered however, for Mona's excitement about sharing her story greatly overrode her suspicions of the two boys and she soon found herself wrapping them in conversation over in the kitchen.

"You two are never gonna believe who showed up at the ice cream parlor today," Mona spoke excitedly as she untied her headband. Neither of the boys seemed to pay her much mind, for Wario was busy eating (when wasn't he?) and Waluigi was being his typical brooding self, staring off into nothing as some unknown thoughts wandered about his mind. Mona didn't care though. Even if the story fell on deaf ears, she wanted to tell it anyway.

"So, it was a pretty slow day, just like pretty much every Monday is," Mona began as she moved over to the nearby fridge and peered inside, hoping to find the bowl of grapes she left inside to enjoy after work was over. Thankfully it was still there and she happily retrieved it from near the back of the fridge. "And I was starting to think I wouldn't have anymore customers before I left," she continued, closing the fridge door and joining the two boys at the dining table. "But just when my shift was about to end, this big group of teenagers suddenly came..."

She trailed off as she witnessed Waluigi give her an exasperated glare, silently begging her to either get to the point or shut the hell up. It wasn't really that rare for him to give her looks like that, but, this time around, something about it seemed to be filled with a certain degree impatience that didn't usually present itself in Waluigi's features. And the last thing Mona wanted was to get on Waluigi's nerves.

Silently popping a grape into her mouth and looking away from Waluigi for a moment, she decided it might be best to go ahead and get to the punchline.

"A couple of girls came in today and I overheard them saying they were princesses," she informed rather quickly, feeling that every word she said brought her closer to ultimately frustrating Waluigi.

She was about to get up and move to a different room, feeling that the boys wouldn't care to talk about the event, but, surprisingly, both of them suddenly appeared quite interested; Wario even put a hold on his eating to glance up at Mona for the first time since she arrived.

"What'd they look like?" Wario asked, causing Mona to slowly sit back down with a raised eyebrow. She noticed Waluigi shoot a disapproving look at Wario the second he spoke.

"Huh, what's up with the sudden interest?" Mona asked with a smile.

"We're not interested," Waluigi answered immediately with a slight growl. But, of course, Wario had to push the subject, much to Waluigi's dismay.

"We might have seen those same girls the other day," Wario spoke up, ignoring Waluigi completely. "They're the reason Waluigi's hair got burned off."

"Shut up you stupid fat ass," Waluigi growled, smacking Wario in the back of the head immediately. The rotund boy wasn't fazed at all by the attack and Mona's smile soon became a bit brighter. Maybe she could finally find out what happened.

"How'd they end up burning Waluigi's hair?" she asked, forcing Waluigi to give his nastiest glare to Wario, urging him to keep his mouth shut about the incident. As before though, Wario utterly ignored him.

"It was just some accident at the park," Wario stated simply, attempting to keep himself from giving away the fact that he and Waluigi were in the business of thievery. Mona seemed to catch on rather quickly though, for she heard all about that particular incident from a pair of customers that entered the shop the very same day it took place. If the information she was given was correct, she could plausibly make her next assumption with full confidence that she was correct.

"That accident wouldn't happen to involve you trying to steal a purse, would it Waluigi?" she asked with a sly smile, looking over at the boy in purple as he gave a noticeable wince in response to the question. How the hell did she find out about that? It wasn't like there were a lot of people that would have noticed that he was trying to get away with a purse, especially considering there was a fire that took place so soon after he nabbed it.

But, then again, it _did_ only take one pair of eyes to witness him stealing the purse. And Mona managed to hear a lot thanks to where she worked...

"Look, it was one incident alright," Waluigi said defensively, unconsciously leaning over the table a bit and lowering his voice slightly. "That was the only time I tried something like that, and look what happened as a result. So just drop it alright?"

"You're such a liar Waluigi!" Mona countered with a chuckle, causing Waluigi's eyebrow to twitch ever so slightly in response. "I know that's not the first time you tried to steal something, and I'm pretty sure that's not the last time either. I _am_ able to put two and two together you know."

The missing walkie-talkies. The extra food that the boys tried to hide away in a hidden space in Waluigi's room. The mounds of money that Mona found Wario counting on a few occasions, somehow acquired despite the fact he didn't have a job. Wario and Waluigi found that Mona was acting as a natural-born sleuth those past few days, even though most of the information she gathered was due to their own inability to properly keep their work a secret. And Waluigi knew that it would be no use to try and talk her out of believing that they were up to nefarious deeds; the girl was smart, and once she knew she found the truth behind something, there was no way to dissuade her.

"Alright, so you know that we've stolen a few things," Waluigi muttered as he slunk back into his chair with a harsh frown. He could tell that Mona was thoroughly enjoying herself as she placed another grape in her mouth and smiled at him brightly. "So, what, are you gonna tell your parents on us or something?"

Looking back and forth between the boys, Mona suddenly felt a sense of power wash over her as she assessed the situation. Of course, simply "telling on them" to her parents probably wouldn't do very much to change their ways (they were quite the anti-authority pair anyway), but what they didn't know was that Mona actually had some dirt on them that could serve to separate them. Permanently. And what she had in mind for "punishment" was something neither of the boys would expect at all.

"Actually...I think I might want to help you boys out," Mona admitted as she sat back in her chair comfortably, forcing both boys to hang their mouths slightly open and raise their eyebrows at the same time in response. "If I was hearing you correctly before, you tried to steal something from one of the princesses the other day and failed right? Well, I know where they're both going be at eight o' clock tonight," Mona mentioned coolly as she dropped another grape into her mouth happily. "And if you don't let me help you, then I can always go to the police and let them know what you two have been up to. Not to mention the fact that Wario here is staying with us illegally," she added with a sly glance to Wario, who only appeared to be confused by the information Mona was laying on him. "Only the owners of an orphanage, their family, and actual orphans are allowed to live in an orphanage. Wario, having left his own household _willingly_, is a classified 'runaway'. So, on top of juvenile theft charges, you can be forced to be sent home against your will buddy. And all the coins that you stole will be taken away from you in the meantime, and I know you don't want that to happen now do you?"

Mona spoke so sweetly and casually that it sickened Waluigi to the very core. Who the hell did she think she was, using blackmail to get her way with the two boys? Hell, the situation itself was crazy enough as it was. Why would a goody-two-shoes like Mona want to help them _steal_? Did she just suddenly decide to cast away her purely obedient and good nature in favor of helping them rob princesses on a sheer whim?

"Why the hell do you want to help us in the first place?" Waluigi grumbled, folding his arms tightly as he glared evilly at the girl as she casually bit down on yet another grape. How could she just continue to eat like that during the current conversation? _Wario_ hadn't even touched the food on his plate since Mona opened her mouth for God's sake.

"Do I need a reason?" Mona asked with a small shrug shortly before looking back at Wario. Suddenly, she unconscious gained a look of longing as she gazed at the boy, dressed up in his biker outfit yet again that day...

Something about that outfit just made Mona yearn for adventure; it urged her to seek some excitement out of her own mundane life. She was just so sick of it, doing the same thing day in and day out, living life by the book and never daring to take a step over the edge. Was it really so horrible that she just wanted a little spice in her life? Was it _that_ bad that she just wanted to do _one_ wrong thing? It was just a petty theft job after all. And the princesses...heck, they were _princesses_. It wasn't like they wouldn't be able to replace whatever they were missing...

"Sure, you can help us," Wario mentioned out of the blue, promptly returning to his double-decker ham sandwich. Mona immediately smiled at the hungry boy, tossing another grape into her mouth happily as Waluigi shot a glare at his stubby partner.

"Great, then we can head out to Goombee's at eight o' clock tonight," Mona said happily, not noticing that Waluigi was only becoming more exasperated by the second.

"If she's gonna help us, you can count me out," Waluigi informed with a small sigh as he stood from his seat and began to head for another room before Mona called out to him.

"Oh come on Bro, it'll be fun."

Waluigi immediately came to a halt as he heard this, his blood apparently boiling as he balled his fist for a brief moment before letting out an angry sigh and speaking up once again.

"First of all, I'm not feeling up to pulling a job tonight as it is," Waluigi muttered back without turning to face her, trying very hard to contain himself as he spoke. "Second, the princess already knows my face, so she's likely to spot me pretty quickly if I was there anyway. And third, I'm not your 'Bro'; I never have been, I never will be, and I never want to be. I'm just a guy who's forced to stay here because nobody else wants to take me. Is that enough reason for me not to come with you?"

Although Wario wasn't fazed by the speech whatsoever, Mona found herself feeling quite heartbroken once Waluigi mentioned that he wasn't her "Bro"... Sure, it was a fact, but, even though it wasn't true that he and she were blood siblings, she honestly did look at him and regard him as a big brother. He was the only other person in the world that Mona had known all her life besides her own parents. She had a bond with him that she felt was special... And he seemed to just cast it away at that moment, without a second though, with the utterance of a single sentence.

Why did he have to be like that? Seriously, Mona wanted to _help_ him for goodness sakes... What had she done that made him act so harsh towards her...?

Taking the silence as an opportunity to go ahead and leave, Waluigi continued on his way without another word and without anymore resistance. The stillness of the air persisted for another few small moments and Mona absently put another grape into her mouth. She suddenly wished that she never even mentioned the princesses at all. It was all thanks to her initial eagerness to tell a story and revealing that she knew what the boys were up to that led to the current situation after all... She wasn't excited about finally being able to live a bit on the wild side at all anymore. She simply wanted to stay home and try to figure out what she'd done to make Waluigi so upset with her...

"Just ignore him," Wario suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence as Mona glanced over him with rather sorrowful eyes. "He's always sayin' crap like that. He's just a freakin' downer."

"I'm surprised I never noticed before..." Mona muttered somewhat sarcastically. She noticed from the very beginning that Waluigi was like that. He just never took it to such an extent before...

"Just focus on helpin' out tonight," Wario grumbled between bites. "We messed up last time, but we gotta get it right this time. Those princesses gotta have a crapload of valuable stuff; we'd be rollin' in coins if we got a hold of that."

"Yeah, I guess," Mona muttered, standing from her seat in order to head over to the fridge and replace her grapes within rather slowly. She stared at the ground as she closed the door and tried her hardest to focus on raising her spirits back up. She had to get excited. That night was going to be her first job after all. And she would be going with Wario. He always seemed like the calm and collected type and he was always a pretty cool guy to talk to. He managed to say things that were surprisingly insightful sometimes, and, unlike Waluigi, he never got randomly emotional over just about nothing. If Mona was gonna go out for a night of theft and robbery, Wario was certainly the person she'd want to be with to do it. And she would have to focus on trying her best not to mess up. Worrying about Waluigi could come later...

Still though. It would be nice if she could only figure out how to make him smile at the very least.

Waluigi... As far back as Mona could remember, Waluigi never spread a single smile across his lips. Not even once...


	18. The First Date

**C/N: First thing's first, I'm sorry about taking so long with this new chapter. It started off with simple writer's block, followed by procrastination, a lost will to write just about anything, then, finally, some personal conflict I've had to deal with for a quite some time. It took me about a month to write the first quarter of this story, but, thankfully, I got the writing spirit back and wrote the rest in about two days. It felt good to get back to it after so much time. I just hope that it's worth all the wait. And I'll try my hardest not to wait so long to make another chapter.**

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**Chapter 18: "The First Date"**

Was she doing the right thing...?

Well, of course she was. It wouldn't be fair to Luigi at all if she didn't go... And besides, she wanted this. She wanted to be with him that night.

But...was it really the smartest move to follow her heart instead of her head?

Her father had power. A lot of power. And he could very easily do as he wished without having to worry about any repercussions. He was in such a position to use force if she pushed him to do so. And how fair would it be to Luigi if the king of Sarasaland stole his girlfriend away from him?

Was there any _right_ way to approach the situation? She had no idea how she might be able to convince her father; the man was as stubborn and ignorant as they came. But she just couldn't imagine herself _settling_ for Peasley...

"Any thoughts on this Aunt Julie?" Daisy asked with a sigh as she dropped backwards onto her bed. She and Julie were residing in Daisy's room for a while, Julie having originally offered to help with some makeup (which Daisy briefly decided she wouldn't be wearing that night) and eventually deciding to stay in order to allow her niece to get some things off her chest. In the back of her mind, she always knew that this day would come, from the very first time that Daisy stepped foot into that house to live with her and Jeff.

Jeff and Julie knew that Sarasa set up a planned marriage for Daisy all along, and they simply decided to keep it a secret (to preserve her feelings more than anything). Thankfully, the way things were going for quite a while, it looked like Daisy just might not ever be interested in boys at all. The moment they met Luigi though...well, it was foreseeable that a situation like the one currently taking place would pop up eventually.

"Well Daisy, I can't really say that there's a completely right choice, one way or another," Julie responded honestly, speaking with a light tone in hopes of maintaining a positive mood. "It really all depends on what you think would be best." She allowed a brief pause to prevail as she looked down at the exasperated teenager who was pouting up at the ceiling. Julie promptly moved her way over to the bed and took a seat next to her niece. "But it looks like you've put a lot of thought into this and still haven't found your answer."

"It's just..." Daisy began as she forced herself up into a sitting position, only to stare at the floor, "There's so many pros and cons, no matter what I decide to do... I mean, not that it matters anyway; I already agreed to go out with him... But Luigi's such a sweetheart, and if he ends up getting hurt, it'll be all my fault. But I don't want to just let my Dad have his way... I can't spend the rest of my life with _Peasley_."

With a groan, Daisy fell on her back once again, dramatically resting the back of her hand over her closed eyes. "Aunt Julie," she spoke up with a whiny voice, "You're an adult... You're smart and ever so wise... Please tell me what to do..."

What could Julie say? Go with Luigi, be happy, and possibly be denied passage to the throne? Listen to your father, be the future leader of Sarasaland, and be trapped in a relationship you don't want? There was no way to approach the situation without first choosing sides...

Well, maybe it was time that she did just that.

Now, she loved her brother-in-law, she really did, but she couldn't deny the fact that the man was very often brash and stubborn about his traditional ways. Despite that though, he did have a strong sense of leadership and he knew everything there was to know about management. And Daisy could truly learn a lot from listening to him. But she also loved her niece, probably even more so than she loved Sarasa, thanks to her light-hearted, fun nature (though she oftentimes carried the same negative traits her father did, just to a lesser extent). And, even though Daisy never spent much time learning back at the castle, she was a very bright, compassionate young woman that could bring something to the table that Sarasa severely lacked: heart. Her leadership skills would probably never be quite as sharp as her father's, but the simple facts that she was so willing to break the mold by going to a public school, receive a different form of education, _and_ give someone who was literally nobody in the eyes of the elites a chance to be a part of her life showed that she would very likely be capable of leading her people in an innovative, perhaps more personal way. And Sarasaland could very well benefit from having a queen with such values as that.

The chances of Daisy succeeding in breaking tradition were very slim though...

But, knowing her...well, she just may have been able to find a way. And that was a chance that Julie was willing to take.

"You know what Daisy," Julie began with a warm smile as her niece moved her hand ever so slightly to peer over at her, "I want you to go out with Luigi tonight and have the time of your life, alright? Don't think about your father for a single moment; your uncle and I will try our best to reason with him."

With a smile stretching across her face as well, Daisy slowly sat back up and looked at her aunt with a loving gaze. Was she really about to do that for her? Was she willing to go against the odds and actually back up Daisy in her endeavor?

Daisy herself had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she would never be able to change her father's mind; that she would never live the life she truly wanted once she was grown and ready to take on her granted responsibilities. But knowing that she had at least one person on her side, one person willing to fight for her sake, it felt like that impossible goal was suddenly much more realistic.

Just because Sarasa was the king, that didn't mean he had complete power over _everything_.

"Thank you Aunt Julie," Daisy said quietly, soon wrapping her guardian in a warm embrace, prompting Julie to chuckle as she returned the hug lovingly. It was true that there was nothing she could say or suggest to guarantee that everything was going to work out for the best, but making that promise helped to at least heighten her niece's spirits.

Now she just had to convince her husband that a trip to Sarasaland would be worth the time.

–

"Have fun boys! Call us when you're ready for us to come pick you up!" Mario's and Luigi's mother called over to her waving boys, gushing brightly at the both of them. It was truly a joy to see her young men going out on a date, especially Luigi considering it was his first. She couldn't help but spill over with pride as her husband pulled the family car away from the curb in front of the restaurant, leaving the two boys behind to look after the car for a while and allow their waving hands to drop.

The boys were dressed in complete opposition to each other. Whereas Mario decided to dress down for the situation, sporting a simple pair of blue jeans, a short sleeved red shirt, and his pair of white tennis shoes, Luigi decided to dress up, wearing a belted pair of beige slacks, a dark green, tucked-in button down dress shirt, and a pair of highly polished jet black dress shoes. He also went the extra mile and chose to tame his hair a far bit, cutting it down in some places and brushing it into submission in others. He even went so far as to shave his nearly nonexistent mustache and his "jawline shadow". He really did obsess over looking perfect for his date with Daisy that night, but, as he looked up at the large sign that brightly displayed "Goombee's" over the front entrance of the restaurant, he quickly gained a pair of cold feet.

"I don't think I can do this bro," Luigi muttered with a worried voice, walking his brother to a bench that rested to the side of the entrance in order to allow visiting guests entry. "My heart feels like it's about to pound right out of my chest..." he admitted as the two sat down, his eyes growing unconsciously wider as he placed a hand over his chest. He looked as if he were about to throw up on the spot and Mario quickly attempted to calm his little brother down.

"Come on bro, just chill out. Take a deep breath," Mario instructed as he paused and took in a breath along with his brother, "And relax," he finished as the both of them let the breath out at once. "Daisy already likes you. Just keep on being yourself and don't think about things too much. And besides, you've got me here. I've got your back."

That was true. Having Mario at his side would make that date a lot easier for Luigi to get through. Still though, he couldn't help but feel like something just had to go wrong. Like a fire would start in the kitchen and the entire building would have to be evacuated, or their would be a sudden power outage, leaving all of its patrons confused in the dark. Things like that always happened to Luigi during occasions that were important to him, and a date with the girl of his dreams was _definitely_ such an occasion.

"Well, look at you."

Luigi immediately froze stiff, his heart giving a severe jolt in response to the familiar voice. His brother spotted the new arrival before he could, but Luigi immediately stood up and turned in one fluid, incredibly nervous gesture to face the young woman who would be his date for that night.

"Hey there Handsome," Daisy greeted with a brilliant smile that served to elate Luigi immediately. It was as if any and all previous doubts about going through with that date washed away from his mind as Daisy pulled him into possibly the warmest embrace he'd ever received in his life, and, just as he could feel his heart melt at her touch, he could swear he felt Daisy melt in his arms, pulling herself closer to him as she let out a faint, satisfied sigh.

Like Mario, Daisy decided to dress casually for that night, sporting a dark yellow T-shirt, tight blue jeans, and a pair of simple white tennis shoes. She did touch herself up though, to Luigi's pleasant surprise; she wore a pair of light blue, daisy-shaped earrings, carried a new orange purse under her arm, and even had on some perfume that made her smell like flowers. Those subtle changes seemed like a completely different side to the normally tomboyish girl that Luigi had come to know, and, though it felt somewhat alien to him to see her like that, he couldn't deny that he loved every little change she made for that night. And it was made obvious that she appreciated Luigi's efforts to appear his best for the date that night as well.

"You smell really nice Luigi," Daisy muttered into his ear softly, causing the young man to blush immediately, more in response to the fact that Daisy whispered in his ear than anything. Her sweet, softened voice that brushed so closely to his ear held some amazing power that caused his heart to race once again after finally calming down in her embrace. However, that occurrence didn't bring a feeling of anxiety to him, but instead only made him feel that much more excited that he was able to finally be with her.

"Thanks. You do too," Luigi commented in return with a more confident voice than he expected from himself as the two finally separated after several seconds. And, to both Mario's and Luigi's surprise, Daisy subtly glided her hand down to the level of Luigi's and grabbed on to it, causing Luigi to return the grasp without even initially realizing what he was doing. Once he did though, his face automatically flushed as he gazed at Daisy, who held her smile perfectly as they locked eyes. It was then that Luigi realized that he could really make something out of that relationship. He never felt entirely sure that Daisy felt the same way about him as he did her, despite the constant positive reinforcement he received from his brother, but that one action let Luigi know that he really did have a chance. And he could _not_ screw it up.

"You two can go inside if you want," Mario spoke up, giving off a sly smile to his little brother as he caught their attention. "We have a booth reserved already. I'll join you when Peach gets here."

"Will do Mister," Daisy answered cheerily, almost pulling Luigi out of his dormant state in order to head for the entrance. Luigi faltered for a slight moment, feeling a bit apprehensive about leaving Mario behind to get the date started with Daisy alone. As he passed his older brother by though, he received a confident smile that silently told Luigi that he would be fine in there. He'd spent whole afternoons with Daisy in the past after all, he could survive a few minutes of being alone with her.

The atmosphere within the restaurant was quite lively, especially considering it was a Monday night. Dozens of patrons occupied the window-side booths and high-top tables, as well as the U-shaped bar that rested in the very center of the building. Upbeat music played over well-concealed speakers throughout the building, televisions broadcasting several sports games littered the walls, and hearty conversation and laughter filled the air as Luigi and Daisy approached the young Toad hostess, dressed in the restaurant's colors of red and black, who greeted them with a bright smile.

Following a short exchange with the bubbly teenage employee, the pair were brought to their booth and seated across from each other next to a window overlooking the parking lot and a fair bit of the street beyond. As they perused the contents of their menus, just outside Mario's date had finally arrived, approaching from seemingly nowhere, for Peach urged her driver to let her out a fair bit away since her father insisted she ride in a limo yet again. She could only be thankful that Mario never noticed the gaudy vehicle as she approached him with a smile and the two wrapped each other into a hug. However, like Luigi, Peach dressed a bit more highly for the occasion than expected, wearing a long yet simple pink dress, a turquoise bead necklace, a pair of round sapphire earrings, a fair amount of makeup and lipstick, and, to top it all off, her hair was done up in a neat ponytail that was tied with a small piece of white cloth that sported a golden star at its top. Though she did acknowledge that she may have tried a bit too hard with her choice of dress, Mario was quick to ensure her that she looked absolutely gorgeous, as always, and the two of them soon entered the building as well. But little did they know that, only a few dozen yards away, two pairs of eyes rested quite fixedly on them.

"This is just so exciting!" Mona piped up giddily as she stepped toward the restaurant with bright eyes. Having changed into a red tube top and a white skirt and applied a bit of makeup, Mona felt ready for a night on the town. However, her partner for the night felt no such urgency for touching himself up, opting to continue to wear his usual biker outfit despite the mustard stain he managed to leave on it. But, ignoring Wario's appearance, Mona couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly eager about the night ahead of her. For more than just one reason.

"Calm down a little bit," Wario advised as he tossed one last cookie into his massive mouth. "You'll make mistakes if you're too excited."

"Ahem, right," Mona mumbled, attempting to calm herself down a bit. "It's just...I never imagined I'd seriously be doing something like this ya know? It's such a...bad thing to do."

"Who cares if it's bad?" Wario retorted as the two of them continued to cross the parking lot. "You only have to look out for who really matters: yourself. As far as I see it, if you're not lookin' out for yourself, you're just wastin' your time."

Every word Wario said seemed to strike a particular chord with Mona. It was such a selfish rule to live by, yet it seemed to make a lot of sense to her when she brought it into consideration. What was she living for? To simply serve others and see to it that they lived a happy life, even if she was left behind as a result? Where would that lead her in the end?

Mona was always a firm believer in giving and helping whenever she could; she was often called a martyr for the fact she was willing to pass up opportunities for herself in order to see to it that someone else could get ahead. But, when all was said and done, where did she always end up? Losing at that board game because she offered another player a helping hand. Giving away twenty coins she was going to spend on that cute miniature statue to one of the little kids so they could play at the arcade for a little while. Having to miss out on most of her own birthday party because Joe was shorthanded one day and asked her to fill in for a missing employee. She could make a whole list of things she had to give up because she felt the need to put others before herself. But if she just focused on doing things for her own benefit, who knew just how much happier she would be? Who knew what she could have had that she gave up as a result?

Maybe it was time she did start putting herself first.

"Party of two?" the Toad hostess asked, but not without taking a split second to give Wario a disdainful glance. He really should have picked a shirt that didn't have such a stain on it if he planned to go out in public.

"Yeah," Wario answered briefly, looking through the crowd for the group he would be targeting that night. There were a lot more people around than he originally expected...

"Would you like a booth or a table?" the hostess asked as she grabbed two menus from behind her counter.

"A booth would be nice," Mona answered immediately with a smile, prompting the hostess to step out from behind the counter and lead them to a newly emptied booth rather near the entrance of the building. Wario would soon discover that that particular spot was far from optimal, for he discovered his target group almost the entire length of the restaurant away, but Mona seemed to become quickly oblivious, having become easily wrapped up in the atmosphere of the place.

"I just love places like this," Mona sighed with a content smile on her face as she looked over her menu. "It's so inviting don't you think? If this place was hiring before I got my job at the gelateria, I'd so be working here instead."

"They're all the way across the restaurant from us..." Wario grumbled mostly to himself, appearing to completely ignore Mona as he flipped open his menu and went straight to the "Steaks & Ribs" section. "Need to figure out how we're gonna get over there and snag what we came here for."

"Well, they'll be here for an hour or two won't they?" Mona asked with a small smile. "We don't have to come up with a plan right away."

Thankfully, Wario didn't argue that point, for he quickly became invested in choosing which rack of ribs he'd be dining on that night. Mona couldn't help but watch him for a moment, her smile persisting as she did so.

Perhaps, if she played her cards right that night, she'd be able to accomplish a bit more than just robbing those princesses.

–

"Never really thought about it before," Mario admitted immediately after taking a sip of his cola. "I guess if I could choose right now, I'd probably be...an archaeologist."

"Really? Why would you choose to be that?" Peach asked, unconsciously leaning a bit over the table as her interest in what Mario had to say grew with every passing word.

The date was going swimmingly, despite the fact that, observing how everyone was dressed, it appeared that Mario should have been there with Daisy and Luigi there with Peach. But the dressing mix-up aside, the group was thoroughly enjoying itself at that table in the busy restaurant. Conversation flowed so easily that a moment had yet to pass in silence, and the two pairs found themselves growing more and more invested in each other as the minutes ticked by.

While most of the table's chatting was commanded by Mario and Peach, it was obvious that Luigi and Daisy were holding their own rather nicely. Their personal communication was quite silent; they often settled for simply looking into each others eyes and talking with each other so quietly that neither Mario nor Peach could hear them, despite sitting right next to them.

As time passed however, Daisy couldn't help but think about the secret she was withholding from Luigi. She was a princess. She was next in line to the throne of Sarasaland. And she was arranged for a planned...hm...

Did she really have to tell him that part? Aunt Julie said that she and Uncle Jeff would deal with that. And besides, how awkward would it be to say "By the way, I'm arranged to marry the prince of the Beanbean Kingdom when I turn eighteen," especially on a first date? The answer: extremely.

She couldn't just keep it a secret though. She owed it to Luigi to let him know about everything. About being a princess, about Peasley, and about the entire arrangement. But she didn't think it'd be so hard to tell him once she was right there with him like that...

He was just such an awesome guy. So handsome, so kind, so genuine. He made it so easy to just grow attached to him, and it was hard to think that she could possibly lose him and break his heart by telling him everything...

Ugh. That was it. She had to do it immediately or else she wouldn't be able to do it at all.

"Come outside with me Luigi, I have to tell you something," Daisy said in her adopted quiet voice, though it was loud enough for Mario and Peach to hear. Both of them looked over at Daisy in slight wonder as she asked Peach to look after her purse and slid out off the seat. Luigi looked rather confused himself as he got up to follow her and they both passed by the booth of two thieves that eyed them as they passed by and headed out the door.

"Is something wrong?" Luigi asked once outside, still following closely behind Daisy as she led him over to the side of the building, where a single wall light rested and left most of the area quite dark. There was very low activity on that side of the building, no windows exposed them to patrons that rested inside, and Daisy soon came to a stop, leaning her back against the wall and allowing Luigi to stand in front of her with a look of confused wonder on his face.

Daisy took several moments to simply look at him. Tall, slender, a soft face, gorgeous blue eyes that never failed to captivate her with its immense innocence, revealing his truly spotless soul. Those eyes that Daisy missed so much when she was forced to be away for just one weekend...

"This just feels so weird," Daisy sighed with a faint smile, never daring to look away from Luigi's eyes. "I've never felt this way about anyone before. And to think we only met last week."

Luigi didn't know how to respond as Daisy took a small step forward and drew him into another embrace, holding him tightly as he slowly wrapped his arms around her in return. She loved being in his arms. Being so close to him made her feel as if she found something she never even knew she wanted.

"I really like you Luigi," she continued softly, feeling almost as if she were dreaming as she closed her eyes. "There's something about you that I just...I just really love. You're so warm. So kind. You've got such a huge heart. You're so unlike any guy I've ever met. And I feel so lucky to have you in my life. You've taught me that there are people out there that can be honest, and innocent, and truly want nothing but the best for others without feeling the need to get something in return. People like you are just so rare. And I never thought I'd meet someone like you...

"I'm used to being disappointed by the people in my life. The only ones I ever thought I could trust were my aunt, my uncle, and my little cousin. I'm always being ridiculed or lied to, and people keep things from me that...really hurt sometimes. You've never done anything like that to me though. And you don't seem like you ever would. And it just wouldn't be fair if I kept this a secret from you anymore..."

Luigi couldn't help but feel anxious as Daisy slowly released him from the hug. She'd never spoken to him quite like that before. She never faltered in her words like she had just then, and her voice was always strong and confident, yet, at that point, it bordered on weak and unsure. It felt like, until that point, Daisy had up a sort of emotional wall that she used to protect herself, and she was finally breaking it down for the sole purpose of letting Luigi know that she truly did care. But what was it that she had to say that caused all of this...?

Taking another moment to simply look into his eyes, her own barely holding back what would be the first tear Luigi would ever see her shed, Daisy forced herself to get her words out.

"I'm actually the...the princess of Sarasaland."

…

"Last weekend, I didn't go away to see my father because he was sick... I was forced to go to the Beanbean Kingdom to meet Prince Peasley...because, um...my father arranged a...a marriage for us that's supposed to take place when I turn eighteen..."

…

Luigi wished he could think she was joking, but there was no possible way she could have such a difficult time saying that if she wasn't telling the truth. A princess... Daisy was a princess...? And she was scheduled for an arranged marriage with the prince of the Beanbean Kingdom...? Wow...talk about hard to believe.

What were the chances that the first girl Luigi actually had a shot with was a princess? A princess that was already planned to marry someone nonetheless. It sounded like a situation straight out of a really bad romance novel.

When Luigi remained completely silent for several long seconds, Daisy began to feel rather desperate. She didn't want him to hate her for that. She didn't want him to leave and never talk to her again. She had no control over being a princess or over her father's acti-

"Do you like him?" Luigi asked, causing Daisy's heart to jolt immediately as her thoughts were interrupted.

"No, I don't," Daisy answered immediately. "The entire time I was there, all I could think about was you. All I wanted to do was leave, and be back here, and see you again. And when you asked me out today, I honestly never felt happier in my-"

Before Daisy realized what was going on, Luigi leaned in and ceased her lips with his own, forcing her to discontinue her frantic speaking. She could do nothing but blink in surprise at first. Never did she expect Luigi to make the first move like that. But, as she got over her initial shock and realized that this new touch was quite satisfying on multiple levels, she slowly closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around him as he did her, and returned the motion of affection as deeply as she could.

Most would argue that first kisses never really happened like they did in movies, but that moment was as good as any romance film could have pulled off. Sure, they probably weren't drenched in rain, and there were several people nearby to silently eavesdrop on the event as it took place, but the emotional high that both Luigi and Daisy felt at that moment was so great that neither of them could honestly say that any other moment in their lives was quite so phenomenal. And it was at that moment that the two knew that they were right for each other. The silent communication of that most intimate of touches clued them both in that they couldn't just let that relationship go.

Daisy could only hope that her aunt and uncle could succeed in convincing her father.

As the two left the spot to return inside, hand in hand, a certain Lakitu swooped down from just above where they previously stood, watched them as they departed, and shook her head with a sorrowful look upon her face.

"Dear Princess Daisy... My, King Sarasa most certainly will not like this..."

–

"Got a plan yet Wario?" Mona asked casually as she cutely sipped up a strand of spaghetti and looked over at her dinner partner, who managed to add a number of additional stains to his shirt thanks to the natural messiness of the ribs. They'd been there for about forty-five minutes at that point and were finishing up their meal, whereas the group of daters managed to only get about halfway done by then. They had maybe another thirty to forty minutes to make their move, or else they'd be getting nowhere.

"No," Wario admitted between bites, though he honestly didn't appear to be thinking all that hard anyway, for he'd been chowing down on his meal almost nonstop since he got it. And really, Mona didn't mind in the least that he hadn't come up with something, for she was enjoying simply being there with him as it was.

Soon, a noise could be heard emanating from Mona's purse, forcing her to set down her fork and dig around for her cell phone for a short moment. Soon extracting it and scanning the caller ID, she discovered that her mom was calling her... Huh, that was odd. She almost never called unless she needed something.

"Hey Mom, what's up?" she greeted immediately, looking out the window next to her as she spoke, feeling rather rude about speaking on the phone in front of Wario. He showed no particular interest however as she continued her conversation. "Oh, I'm sorry Mom, I totally forgot... We're still at Goombee's... Um, well, this place isn't that far from the house, and the pharmacy's only a little bit out of the way. I could just walk over and get it for you. ...Of course, it won't take me that long at all. ...No Mom, it's my fault that I forgot, I'll go and get it for you. ...Okay, I'll be there soon."

What did she just do...? Crap, she did it again. As she hung up her phone, Mona realized she forced herself into a situation where she put someone else before herself yet again. She didn't really want to go to the pharmacy for her mom, and her mom even offered to just drive there herself, but Mona just _insisted_ that she do it instead. Ugh. It was gonna take a bit of work to start putting herself before others...

"I'll be back in about twenty minutes Wario," Mona informed as she tucked her cell phone back into her purse and scooted out from the booth.

"Alright," Wario responded simply, allowing Mona to leave as he finished off the last of his meal. He knew he would have to come up with something by the time she got back. But what could he do in such a crowded restaurant? There were just way too many witnesses around. The only hope he had of snagging those purses was...

Ah, that was it. Wario needed to create a distraction. If he could throw the place into a state of confusion, those four would likely get caught up in all of it and he could sneak over and nab those purses, and maybe a few other things if the distraction went on long enough. So that just left the question of what he should do. And, considering his location, the answer seemed pretty obvious.

Getting up from his table, Wario slowly made his way over to the entrance and quickly looked around for a victim. Thankfully, the perfect target just happened to stroll in at that moment: a very tubby Shy Guy dressed in a red robe. He'd probably get a bit defensive if Wario made it a point to make fun of his massive size...

"Hey, watch where you're walkin' lardass," Wario insulted after "accidently" bumping into the large Shy Guy. "Christ dude, drink a diet cola sometime, you're cloggin' the entire freakin' restaurant."

To Wario's surprise, the Shy Guy didn't immediately respond. Instead, he simply stood there for a moment before, again surprising Wario, he let out a rather hurt sniffle instead of the hot-tempered explosion that Wario was hoping for.

"I can't help it...that...I really _really_ enjoy and honestly love good food!!" the Shy Guy cried rather loudly as tears exploded from behind his mask. Wario certainly wasn't expecting him to jet out of the building with as much alacrity as he managed, and was soon left behind as several people stared at him disdainfully.

Well, that didn't work out as well as-

"HEY!! _BUDDY_!! The _HELL _do you think you were doing saying that to my friend you jackass!?"

Ah, that was more like it.

To Wario's delight, a regularly-sized, grey-robed Shy Guy appeared on the scene to defend his chubby friend, and he certainly succeeded in turning quite the number of heads as he exploded into the building and wasn't shy at all about getting right in Wario's face.

"Step aside Munchkin, I don't have time to be bothered with you right now," Wario returned smugly as he forcefully pushed the Shy Guy aside, slamming him against the hostess's counter as Wario made to continue in the general direction of the bathroom. Thankfully, the Shy Guy wasn't about to put up with that, and Wario soon found himself slammed face first onto the floor as his opponent showed an impressive display of strength. Wario may not have expected the little guy to be such a powerful fighter, but that only made the ensuing scuffle that much more fun to play out.

Quite a number of patrons stopped whatever they happened to be doing in order to watch the two scrap it out in the aisles of the restaurant. Punches were thrown, shoves were executed, and Wario was actually almost sent over a table due to a forceful backhand the Shy Guy managed to land square on his forehead. Several people screamed and scattered as the fight neared them and the employees tried their best to calm everyone down while attempting to split up the fight and call authorities. And the group that Wario had his eyes set on were beginning to let their guard down as they took notice of the encounter. He knew that a simple fistfight wouldn't be quite enough of a distraction however, and he soon began to make a conscious effort to get a waiter or two involved...

The crashing of ice cold water and searing hot soup on the lap of one particular, unsuspecting customer was enough to set off the chain of events Wario was hoping for. Somehow having remained completely oblivious to the fight the entire time, the Doogan patron blamed the waiter's accident on his own incompetency, stood up, and attempted to jam his friend's searing hot baked potato in the employee's face in order to insult him while yelling that he would never be coming back to that place again. However, as the waiter fumbled with his own words, he managed to duck and completely avoid the food item as it went soaring over his head, instead smacking another visitor across the aisle right on the side of his face.

Obviously in pain from the heat of the projectile potato and pissed off about the misdirected toss, the affected Toad teenager decided to retaliate by grabbing his girlfriend's mug of hot chocolate and attempting to splash the offending customer in the face. But, as luck would have it, the waiter who ducked stood erect just as the Toad's arm swung right above him, forcing the top of his head to knock the mug out of the customer's hand and sending it flying to the next seating area over and splashing a number of other diners with the searing hot liquid. And, of course, they weren't about to take that very lightly.

Soon, Wario and the Shy Guy in grey were far from the only two causing a scene within the restaurant, for a food fight exploded throughout the length of the area. Some people shouted in anger, some laughed their asses off at the sudden mayhem, some left as soon as they could, and some playfully decided they would participate just for the heck of it. It was certainly a chaotic situation, but one thing was known for sure: Wario's impromptu plan was _certainly_ working.

He had no idea when exactly he managed to lose his grey opponent, but Wario eventually found himself to be one of the few that wasn't maliciously throwing food at someone, or the target of said food-throwing. However, the group he'd had his eye on, thankfully, had decided to partake in the event. Well, at least the two that weren't all dressed up. The other two were busy trying to get out while getting as little stray food on them as possible. The important thing was that they'd all managed to gravitate a small way away from their table, and Wario could see an orange purse resting on the booth seat, totally unguarded. All he would have to do was sneak over and nab it without being noticed, which was definitely possible with so much chaos going on all around him.

He didn't have to go very far to get to the target booth, simply ducking down and waddling up a couple steps and over about three tables. Once he reached his destination, he took one more cautionary glance around himself to make absolutely sure nobody was paying him in mind. Thankfully, nobody seemed to remember or care that he basically started that whole situation and, though some people saw him nabbing the purse, nobody honestly thought twice about it, for they were busy bobbing, weaving, and aiming to care.

On his way out, Wario managed to snag two more purses that were lucky enough to be forgotten about, and, only after allowing himself to get hit in the face with a slice of cake so he could smear it off and take a bite of it, he made his exit, successful and quite content at the mess he managed to caused. Something about knowing that he was the virtual puppetmaster behind that entire scene was deeply satisfying, and he could begin to head back to the orphanage with an accomplished smile on his face.

It was only too bad that Mona had to miss out. He'd make sure to fill her in later though. And, hopefully, those purses contained a number of nice, valuable items.

* * *

**Footnote: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was certainly quite fun to write, though hopping between the two different groups was a little tough. I just hope I pulled it off well enough. Anywho, I'll see you all again in the next exciting chapter of "Not Another Love Story...Z"!**

**Okay, bad joke, sorry.**


	19. The King's Force

**AN: Summer break has finally started for me, meaning it will be prime time for me to focus on stories once again. I had the hardest time with this chapter though. The first half I was able to get done in a sitting or two, but the second half I had to rewrite at least five times before I felt okay with it. And even then, I still think it's not quite that good.**

**But don't let that deter you from reading! I insist that you do! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 19: "The King's Force"**

"Your Highness, I deeply apologize for disturbing you at this most inopportune hour."

"It's quite alright Lakilulu. I know you would never do such a thing without plausible reason. You have news concerning my daughter already?"

"Yes Your Highness. I was keeping a watchful eye over her as you ordered, and discovered that Her Majesty has taken a strong liking to a commoner boy in Toad Town by the name of Luigi."

"...Go on."

"She went out with him to a restaurant Sire, and I observed the two of them kissing just outside of it at one point."

"..."

"The most disturbing fact about this, Your Grace, is that, in a conversation that took place just prior to the act, Her Highness openly admitted that she had no interest in Prince Peasley whatsoever. She revealed to Luigi everything about herself, the visit, the planned marriage, and described that he was the only one on her mind the entire time she was in the Beanbean Kingdom. He seemed quite unchanged by the details though, all due to the simple fact that Daisy told him she had feelings for him and not Peasley. I do not think he will be deterred from seeing her further at all, despite everything she said."

"..."

"...Your Grace?"

"...To think, not a full day after the visit came to an end, that girl had the gall to outright defy me..."

"...Your Highness...?"

"After all the planning, everything I've put myself through to ensure that she had a hopeful future as queen of this land someday. I bent to her will to please her, let her do as she wished without question, all in return for a promise that she would take my place at the throne alongside a suitable king... It's quite evident I've made several fatal mistakes thus far however... But I'll see to it that every one of them is corrected..."

"..."

"Lakilulu. Return to Toad Town and retrieve my daughter and this...commoner boy of hers as soon as possible. I would like to have a few words with them both. Personally."

"...Yes...Your Majesty... Right away..."

–

"In Loving Memory..."

"Beloved Father..."

"Caring Mother..."

"Wonderful Son..."

Were those people really everything their tombstones made them out to be? This guy died at the age of twenty-six... "Cut down in his prime due to a tragic car accident." Really now? What exactly were the details of that accident?

Did he slam into another car? Did another car slam into him? Did he hit some miscellaneous idle object? Was he hit while not even in a car? Was he drunk at the time? What were the finer details of this "tragic" accident? Anything could have possibly happened... But, like tombstones always did, that message left everything out in favor of granting the deceased a positive spin. Was this guy really worth those kind words that would summarize his life and death so briefly? Or was the world just better off without him?

Waluigi found himself wandering about the cemetery quite often those days. He wasn't entirely sure why. It wasn't like he knew anybody that resided there. Not like he had anybody to visit...

Or, perhaps...did he?

Were there tombstones in that graveyard that positively described people he had a connection with? People that he knew, but didn't remember? People that, perhaps, left him behind without ever taking the time to get to know him, or care about him?

No. No, there probably weren't.

What would his tombstone say though? "Here lies Waluigi, a wandering soul that was stricken down before he had his chance to shine." Heh. Yeah, that so accurately described him. He didn't have his chance to shine because he was busy sneaking around, stealing, and wondering why his parents abandoned him. But nobody would know that when they read his tombstone. Nobody would know that at all.

Look at him. He was sitting there thinking about death. Was he "that guy"? That guy who didn't care about anything because he couldn't. That guy who felt he could never find any real meaning in his life. That guy that willingly accepted the idea of death, and felt ready to die at anytime. ...Was Waluigi that guy who may as well simply not exist at all?

Well, what was his reason for living? To meet his real parents? Sure, he wanted to know who they were and possibly see them face to face, but he doubted it would be the most pleasant of experiences. Help Wario raise cash for that bike? Sure, that could occupy Waluigi for a time, but it became evident that Mona wanted to help with that and, really, he just couldn't stand being around her...

What was keeping Waluigi tethered to life? He wasn't scared of dying, but he couldn't think of anything that he had to truly live for... So...why?

Why...?

"I'll find a reason someday..." Waluigi muttered to himself with a sigh as he stood up straight from his leaning position underneath a tree. That was all he could do to keep himself going. It had become his saying, his motivation to continue forward. It was a very simple, very uncertain motto, but, somehow, it worked. It was all Waluigi had to cling to so he could force himself to get out of bed those days. That saying pushed him to live, and to see just what the future would bring him.

Finally, after two hours of wandering the grounds of the graveyard, Waluigi decided it was time he return home. The afternoon was beginning to set in and he had to get back before the weekly movie began. It was one of the few things he seemed to find some amount of joy in. He didn't know why he liked sitting in that dark room, surrounded by talkative, obnoxious little kids that often prevented him from hearing the movie. There was just some odd attraction in being able to look into the life of someone else, even if that life was completely artificial and unrealistic in every way. But to be a character in a movie...where life passed by within a mere hour and a half, and, usually, turned out for the best. Characters always got everything they set out for in the end-

"I didn't even realize it was gone until this morning," a nearby female voice spoke up, its carrier a fair distance in front of Waluigi, heading in the opposite direction of him. He didn't bother to look and see exactly who it was, but couldn't help but listen to what little he could get from the conversation.

"Hope you didn't have anything really important in there," the second, male voice then spoke just as it prepared to pass Waluigi by.

"Nope, I didn't put anything in there but some lip gloss," the first voice replied. "I only carried that thing because my aunt wanted me to bring something 'womanly' for the date. She thought you might like it."

"Honestly, I was kinda surprised you brought it..."

As the voices faded out of Waluigi's earshot, he decided to glance over his shoulder and take a look at who exactly was talking. And, sure enough, it was the very couple that Wario and Mona had set out to rob just the previous night, holding hands and smiling brightly as they continued on their path down the road, like the couple of characters they were.

On the universal stage, those two were obviously the pair of lovers that stood at the center and made the show shine. One, a strong, witty princess. The other, an ordinary yet lovable boy. Their meeting: unexpected, yet fated. Their friendship: steadfast, yet almost obsessive. Their statuses in society: staggeringly opposite, yet set aside in favor of happiness. Walking hand-in-hand, they achieved their goal to be with one another, and even avoided a possible disappointment by sheer happenstance, for Wario was likely highly upset that a purse that belonged to someone of such high status carried nothing but a bit of lip gloss. They were the definition of a couple that existed only in movies. And yet, they very likely didn't even notice. They lived in blissful ignorance of the truly exceptional position they managed to get themselves into.

But, of course, the only part that mattered was that they _were _blissful. They had happiness. They had what they wanted. And that was all that was important in life. A fair number of people found what made them happy in their lives at one point or another. And, as Waluigi figured, all he could do was keep pressing on until it was his turn to find what would put a smile on his face and bring a warmth to his heart. 'Til then, he would have to turn back around and continue forward. One step at a time.

However, little did Waluigi know that the two characters would soon face an unexpected occurrence that would put a damper on their perfect (and perfectly clichéd) lives. Daisy could soon feel a vibration coming from her pocket, the source of which could only be her cell phone. Taking it out and opening it would show her a text message from her uncle that would give her heart a fair jolt, though she didn't exactly know what purpose lied behind it.

"_I know you planned to have Luigi over today, but DON'T come home yet. Go to the castle. They won't be able to look for you there."_

"...What does that mean?" Luigi asked after a moment of silence wherein both he and Daisy simply stared at the message, a gradual feeling of worry coming over them as they read it for a second time.

"I don't know..." Daisy admitted, though she felt she had a faint understanding of just what might be going on. It was a bit too hard to believe though..

"But that sounds like a good idea doesn't it?" Daisy suddenly asked, shaking off the negative feeling as she forced a warm smile onto her face and looked over at Luigi. She closed her phone and tucked it back into her pocket before looking off toward Mushroom Castle resting in the distance. "The castle's open to the public, so we can walk on in whenever we want to," she informed as Luigi looked off toward the castle too, having never actually been there before.

"I always did wonder what the inside of the castle looked like," Luigi murmured almost to himself just before Daisy grabbed his hand and pulled him forward with a smile, leading him off down the road.

"Then let's go," she ordered happily, looking back at a stumbling Luigi. Though he was used to it, he was surprised by Daisy's sudden burst of energy. It just seemed odd how easily she could rebound to her usual upbeat self after having just read such an ominous message. She felt that she had to turn the situation positive though. That would be the only way that she could ensure that Luigi wouldn't feel worried about anything. And it was the only way that she could convince herself that everything was perfectly okay.

Even though that would soon be proved untrue.

The moment Daisy turned back around to make sure it was okay to head across the street, a conspicuous black limo rolled to a halt right in front of her and Luigi. Before either of them knew what was happening, all three passenger doors on the vehicle flew wide open, and from them emerged five Nokobons, the black-shelled Sarasan cousins of Koopas. Each of them wore a pair of dark sunglasses, all of which contained the same small, silver symbol: a slim, stylized "S" that rested embedded in the top right corner of the glasses.

Luigi was quite taken aback as three of the Nokobons wedged themselves between him and Daisy, forcing them to disconnect their clasped hands as Luigi's were forced behind his back. At the same time, Daisy was being roughly pushed toward the limo by the other two.

"On behalf of the royal family of Sarasaland, you are under arrest!" one of the Nokobons crowding Luigi informed gruffly as his two comrades hastily forced a pair of handcuffs onto his wrists. Luigi could do nothing but look about, bewildered.

"What!? But-what did I do!?" he stammered with wide eyes, his hands fastened together behind his back, as he began to be pushed toward the limo just as Daisy was. There was no way he could have possibly known what in the world was going on. Daisy did though. She understood almost as soon as she saw the first Nokobon emerge from the car. Nokobons made up the majority of her family's servants. They were a rare sight outside of Sarasaland, and, seeing them suddenly appear in mass, their mission apparently to find her and Luigi, made it blatantly obvious what was happening. Her father, being control freak he was, somehow caught wind of her date with Luigi, and actually sent out a search party to find them and bring them back to Sarasaland by force...

Well, she wasn't about to let her father have his way so easily.

Whipping around with surprising alacrity, Daisy bent her leg back in preparation to slam her foot into the side of one of the Nokobons that was daring enough to push her. Pounding his shell like a soccer ball, Daisy succeeded in sending the Koopa wannabe flying backwards and straight into one of the Nokobons that surrounded Luigi. Daisy would be lying if she said that kicking a Nokobon's shell that hard didn't hurt like hell, but it provided just the distraction she was looking for.

The remaining three abductors were shocked to see their princess do such a thing and they all made the mistake of letting down their guards for a brief moment as they stared at their two assaulted comrades. That one lapse in attention was all Daisy needed in order to rush forward, grab Luigi by his handcuffs, and being rushing off down the sidewalk. She wobbled a bit as her dash began, the effects of her kick obviously showing through, but she was quickly able to regain her composure. Luigi, however, wasn't quite so lucky, and he didn't have the chance to make his traveling any easier.

Forced to stumble over himself constantly as he ran backwards as best he could in order to keep up with his speeding girlfriend, he noted that the Nokobons were quickly getting over the sudden attack and began to give chase. One could only be grateful they were slow as sin and had no chance whatsoever of catching up with them, even with Luigi running backwards like he was. However, they soon appeared to give up, knowing they would never match the two humans' speed, and they all turned back. This allowed Luigi a chance to calm down, if only a little bit, and ask Daisy if she could let him turn around for the sake of making his running much smoother.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Daisy apologized as she let go of the link between his cuffs. Almost falling over thanks to his attempt at turning around while keeping up his speed, Luigi had to rely on Daisy to grab his collar and pull him back erect before his face became acquainted with the pavement below. Forced to slow herself down a bit so she wouldn't outrun her compromised boyfriend, Daisy began to wonder just what the two of them could do. They were already found. Mere moments after they were warned, they'd been discovered, and her father's servants were able to follow them.

And, to make matters worse, those Nokobons weren't the only ones sent to find them. The second they got back into their limousine to better give chase, they informed the rest of the team spread out all over Toad Town sent to find Luigi and Daisy. A force that consisted of an additional twenty Nokobons and one particular Lakitu that acted as the ringleader of it all.

"They have been discovered, heading south from the cemetery," Lakilulu informed her group of Nokobons, who all immediately sprang to action and climbed into their own limousine park in front of the household of Daisy's family. "Please detain them quickly," she called to her underlings just before the limo's doors closed. "I do not wish to make this into a scene."

"Yes ma'am," one of the Nokobons answered just before closing his passenger door. Lakilulu watched in silence as they pulled away from the curb and headed into town. And, just behind her, stood the scowling prince of Sarasaland.

"Lulu, why are you doing this?" he asked with an exasperated voice as the Lakitu turned herself around to face him, though she couldn't look him in the eye, causing her to looking downward instead.

"The king has ordered me to-"

"Orders," Jeff cut her off with a sharp scoff, causing Lakilulu to flinch slightly as she let her gaze fall further. "Orders, orders, orders. 'Anything and everything for the sake of the king' right? Do you even know what you're doing right now Lulu!?"

The timid Lakitu floated back ever so slightly, shocked that her prince was raising his voice at her. He'd never done such a thing in the past, and it was frightening to be the brunt of his anger.

When she never answered, Jeff let out a sigh in an attempt to control his emotions. He folded his arms firmly across his chest before he spoke once again, using a softer, less angered voice.

"Daisy moved out here with us so she could learn what it's like to just be normal," Jeff started, leaning back against his front door, looking off to the right as Lakilulu continued to look downward. "She wanted to see how life was to grow up as a normal kid. And part of being a normal kid is meeting all sorts of people. She just made her first group of good friends last week, and she was able to find a boyfriend too, right when we thought she'd never meet anybody. She was just starting to realize what it was like to be in a relationship, and it made her happy. I've never seen her smile so brightly as she did after she came home last night. And you're gonna take that away from her just because Sarasa already picked out someone for her? Heck, if you want me to be perfectly honest, I think Luigi's much more suited for Daisy than Peasley would ever be. But that's beside the-"

"King Sarasa is afraid Princess Daisy will turn out like you, Your Highness," Lakilulu spoke up with a quiet, nervous voice, causing Jeff to fall silent immediately. He blinked several times in quick succession, greatly taken aback.

"...Like me?"

"His Majesty...always had his reservations about letting Daisy live with you," Lakilulu continued, not daring to look Jeff in the eye as she spoke. "He allowed her to dwell here simply to appease her. In the beginning, he was certain she would soon yearn to return to him and the castle, but, when she never expressed any urge to come back, he began to worry...

"His Highness, I regret to say, is ashamed of you," she pressed on, her voice seeming to grow smaller and her head seeming to hang lower with each passing word. "He proclaims that you abandoned the family and shamed its name when you decided to marry a commoner... He no longer considers you to be his brother...

"I do not wish the same to happen to Princess Daisy Your Highness." Jeff appeared to freeze into his position, seeming to look off into nothing as Lakilulu spoke. "Princess Daisy is the heir to the throne." His own brother, casting him away like that... "If she were to fall for a commoner, the king would not stand for it." How many years had passed by wherein Jeff continued to hold his brother with the highest regard? "I cannot let the kingdom lose its heir. It is my duty to serve the royal family, and, if I must interrupt in Princess Daisy's happiness to do so...then, despite regretfully, I must follow orders." Only to find out he wasn't even considered to be a part of the family anymore? "I am deeply remorseful about what I must do...but the fact remains that I _must_ do it, else there may be no continuance of the Sarasan royal family..."

As Jeff continued to stare at nothing in particular, Lakilulu felt something rumble from a compartment in her cloud. Jumping slightly at the sudden vibration, she reached down to retrieve her personal phone, answering it shortly thereafter.

"_We have them in our custody ma'am,"_ a voice from the other end spoke up. _"We are rerouting to the castle immediately."_

"Good... I will meet you there," Lakilulu returned before shutting off her phone and returning her attention to Jeff with a heavy heart. The human stared back at her, rather blankly, appearing to wait for her to say something. And, after a small sigh, she decided it was time to give her farewells.

"I must return to Sarasaland," she informed, reverting back to her quiet, nervous voice immediately. "The princess and the commoner have been detained..." A small hint of vitality came back to Jeff's featured as he seemed to remember that Daisy was his primary concern at the moment. Before he could say anything however, Lakilulu continued on. "I understand if you are inclined to follow us back to the castle...but I strongly advise against that. You see...I hate to..." She stopped in order to give a deep sigh and regain her composure. Those words felt like some of the hardest she ever had to impart, especially to someone so close and important to her. Over the years, Jeff was among the kindest, most friendly people she ever had the pleasure of contacting on a regular basis. And now... "His Highness has declared you and your family undesirables within the kingdom," she forced herself to say. "You are disallowed to cross the border into Sarasaland, or else you will be treated as outlaws."

...Undesirables...? Outlaws...? Jeff wasn't even allowed to enter the very kingdom that his own family ruled over, just because he chose to marry a woman who didn't have a heritage of nobility?

…

"_I promise I'll come back some day Sarasa. Hey, don't forget about me while you're up here being all kingly alright?"_

…

"_You know Julie, I need to introduce you to my brother someday. He's a pretty cool guy. I think he'd like you."_

…

"_Sarasaland's the most beautiful kingdom in the world Ilys... It's got deserts, beaches, an ocean, and a wonderful city at the foot of the castle... When you're older, I promise we'll go there someday... We'll see everything... And you can meet your uncle... He's the king you know... The king of all of Sarasaland..."_

All those promising...all those hopes of returning to his home someday, to the place he remembered being so majestic and full of boundless beauty...he wasn't even allowed to set foot onto that land anymore? He couldn't ever return...?

"I am very sorry Your Highness," Lakilulu apologized after several long seconds of very tense silence. Over time, she'd unconsciously floated her cloud so low to the ground that it nearly rested on the ground below. "I wish the circumstances were different, and that I would not have to deliver such sour news, but..."

"It's alright Lulu," Jeff spoke up, doing a remarkably good job of masking the tremendous amount of disappointment he felt at the moment, though it would be safe to say that some of his true emotion seeped through. "It's not your fault."

"...Be that as it may, I cannot help but feel responsible... But...I must now depart," she continued, forcing herself to look Jeff in the eye for the first time after giving a very deep bow. "I fear this will be the last time we may meet like this... With Daisy returning to the castle, I doubt I will be able to return..."

"Lulu," Jeff interrupted her nervous speech with a slight smile on his face. Though he tried to appear unhurt by the situation, he couldn't help but let a hint of melancholy slip through in his features and his voice as he spoke. "Take care of yourself, alright? And look after Daisy for me."

"...Your Highness... I will," Lakilulu promised, feeling all the more remorseful with each passing second. Jeff's calm acceptance of it all just seemed like too much for her to bear. He should have been angry, livid even, but he was just so collected about everything. That was just how he was...and, somehow, it only made it harder on Lakilulu than it would have been had he raised his voice and yelled at her... Like her king often did when he was in a foul mood...

"I must depart," she continued, floating back a small distance before coming to a halt once more. "Farewell, Prince Juno." Jeff immediately spread a smile across his face.

"You know I hate that name Lulu," he said with a soft chuckle that caused Lakilulu to let out her own smile.

"And you know how I so hate being called 'Lulu'," she returned with a light, playful tone. "I suppose we are now even."

With that, Lakilulu floating upward and away, leaving behind Jeff to watch her go with a smile. That silly old Lakitu. Never would Jeff have guessed she'd leave on such a note. But he couldn't deny that he was glad she did...

It assured him that he had at least one friend waiting for him when he headed for Sarasaland himself that night...

* * *

**Footnote: I originally planned this chapter to be much longer, but I figured that this was a good stopping point so I could avoid making it _too_ long. As you can see, things are going south pretty quickly for our characters and, as a result, a lot of things are taking place at once. That's a big reason why I had such a hard time with this chapter; I couldn't figure out how to accurately get everything I wanted to across without sacrificing substance. Hopefully, I'll be able to pull it off though. Anyway, see you in the next chapter!**


	20. Judgment

**Author's Note: Ah, how symbolic. Three milestones all in one day. Twentieth chapter, total word count exceeds 100,000, and this new chapter posted on the first day of my birthmonth. If only I were turning twenty this month, this would be more symbolic, but alas, I've gotten to this point one year too early. Ah well. Hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 20: "Judgment"**

Man, things sure felt weird that day. What was up with all those Nokobons walking around in groups like that, wearing their sunglasses and jumping in and out of their limos as if it were the most normal thing in the world? Mona could swear she saw at least two groups of them on her way home-

Hello... What was this? A cell phone. Just sitting there on the sidewalk. Did someone drop it? Well, duh, someone had to have dropped it. Who would go just leaving cell phones lying around like that?

Mona took a few seconds to look around.

Nobody coming from the direction of the cemetery.

Nobody walking up from the nearby toy store.

Even the road was totally empty.

Hm...

"Should I?" Mona muttered to herself uncertainly as she stared down at the phone. What if someone was looking for it? What if that person really, _really_ needed that phone? What if someone's life depending on finding their phone and making an all-important call...?

_Well, they shoulda been a bit more careful then huh?_

Mona soon knelt down and scooped the discarded phone up into her hand. Her heart pounded furiously as she slipped it into her pocket inconspicuously and casually walked off. After a few steps, her entire body couldn't help but shake due to the intense tingling sensation that suddenly overcame her. A smile soon spread across her lips as her pace picked up a fair bit.

She just official "stole" her very first item.

–

"Sarasaland thanks you for your cooperation, Your Highness," the Sarasaland Magikoopa ambassador said with a cordial bow before King Toadstool. The two of them presided in the throne room, the black-garbed Magikoopa insisting that his presence would be neither lengthy nor important enough to deserve moving to the meeting room. "We have located Princess Daisy. Our time here has ended. I shall return to my kingdom, and, as always, it was a pleasure to be in your company once again.

"Take care Kamarillo," the king returned as the Magikoopa simply turned around and disappeared on the spot.

His visitor having taken his leave, the king decided it was high time he take his daily constitutional of the castle. Aside from Sarasa's request to search for Daisy, the day was remarkably uneventful. It was quite the rare occurrence that he actually had the whole day to do as he pleased. So rare in fact that he actually couldn't make up his mind about what to do with his time. Until Kamarillo's appearance, he simply stood atop his balcony and looked down at the town in silent contemplation about what activity he should occupy himself with.

"Perhaps I should go on a vacation sometime soon," he found himself muttering as he walked down one of the many castle hallways at quite the leisurely pace. It truly had been too long since he last treated himself to some time off. He needed to reintroduce himself to the part of his world that wasn't made up of nothing but appointment after appointment.

"Father, there you are. I've been looking for you."

Hm. Perhaps he could start by talking with his daughter, yet another activity he seemed to rarely partake in those days. Ever since she started going to that public school, he'd began to see less and less of her. It had been barely over a week, but he was beginning to feel as if the two of them were becoming strangers to one another.

"Ah, Peach, what's on your mind?" Toadstool asked with a smile, happy to see that his daughter was actually seeking his company. What a perfect beginning to his new free time. Little did he expect her to question him about the outcome of his own decisions made earlier that day.

"If I'm not mistaken, I witnessed King Sarasa's search party combing the town..." Peach began uncertainly, prompting a nod from her father, though his smile soon faded in reaction to the hint of desperate energy in his daughter's voice.

"Yes, Sarasa sent his envoy to ask permission to search for Princess Daisy," Toadstool answered to Peach's dread. "He didn't give me any details. I can only assume her father wanted her to return to the castle. Not that he had to gain my permission anyway, Daisy is not a registered citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom after all."

"We must contest the king immediately," Peach suddenly spoke up with a stern voice, causing her father to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why do you say that? We can't possibly contest King Sarasa for taking away his own daughter," Toadstool responded as Peach firmly grabbed on to his hand and began to pull him toward the main hallway of the castle at a surprisingly quick pace, causing him to stumble and trip quite ungracefully. "Peach, what are you... Can you slow down just a little... Where do you find all this energy..."

"Daisy wasn't the only person they took with them Father," Peach finally explained as she came to a sudden stop in the main hall, causing Toadstool to jerk to a halt as well, his crown nearly sliding off his head. He quickly regained his composure in front of the guests his daughter led him to, straightening his attire as a mix of furious, sad, and hurt eyes all stared at him. And just as quickly as he regained his physical composure, his mental stability seemed to falter, for it was rare that he was presented with a line of such of unsavory expressions.

Peach soon left her father's side and stepped over to the farthest left side of the line, next to a teenage boy dressed mostly in red, who seemed to look a mixture of upset and shocked.

"I wish I could have told you under better circumstances, but...this is my father," Peach half whispered to Mario, though she spoke loud enough for the rest to hear as well. Everyone, including the king, looked over at Peach with mixed reactions. She said she was going to fetch her father, who might be able to help, but never did they expect her to return with the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom himself...

Mario was admittedly surprised, but seemed able to get over it much more quickly than his mother or father next to him, who held each other in comforting arms, or Toad, who stood on the far right, holding his elbow as he shifted his gaze back and forth constantly. Of them all, he seemed the most shocked, and the pain in his limb seemed to completely disappear as he turned his attention to the newly uncovered information. Peach quickly made it a point not to dwell on the new fact though and soon began to explain the situation to her father.

"When the search party found Daisy, they took someone else with them at the same time," Peach spoke up, breaking through the slight awkwardness she herself created. "They took someone very close to her too, and someone who is very close to all of us here. His name is Luigi. He is a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario's brother," she continued, indicating Mario with a slight shift of hands, "Mr. and Mrs. Segale's son, Toad's best friend, and my friend as well."

King Toadstool looked at the lot with wide eyes. The mother was nearly in tears, the father only holding his back in an attempt to remain strong for his wife. The brother held a certain intensity in his eyes, appearing determined to do whatever it possibly took to remedy the situation that Toadstool accidently and unknowingly brought upon his family. The friend continued to look shocked as ever, still appearing unable to believe that Peach was truly royalty.

King Toadstool then took note that the young Toad was still holding his elbow.

"Did something happen to your arm?" he asked quite randomly as Toad's gaze suddenly shot over to the king and everyone else's turned to him. The teenager seemed unable to handle the situation with grace, for never in his wildest dreams did he ever expect to actually get to meet royalty, let alone be friends with a member of the family or have a king ask him about his wound. The moment almost felt overwhelming for him, but he quickly collected himself and succeeded in remaining as calm as possible.

"It's just a scrape," Toad informed, uncovering a rather nasty, bloody wound that was littered with pieces of rock and gravel. He quickly covered it back up, figuring it probably wasn't such a great idea to speak so casually or to show his gross injury to someone of such high status. "Um, Your Highness...King Toadstool," he added nervously, shrinking back slightly in embarrassment.

However, to his surprise, the king actually took a few steps closer and reached out for Toad's injured arm. He lifted it up gently, silently asking Toad to uncover the wound as he inspected it for a second time.

"How did this occur?" he asked with a soft voice, causing Toad to break out in a light sweat as everyone continued to watch him. They wanted to know the answer too, for he never bothered to tell them what happened.

"Well, um...Your Highness..." he stuttered nervously. It was completely unlike him to act so nervous like that. Perhaps being in the face of royalty truly did have that effect on some people. "I was the one who found out that the search party from Sarasaland took Luigi..." he continued as best he could. "I was just, um...walking down the street, and I saw this big group of Nokobon guys surrounding Daisy and Luigi. It looked like they were about to fight or something, so I went over and um, tried to break it up, but one of the Nokobons rammed into me and I landed on my elbow."

"I see," King Toadstool muttered, furrowing his eyebrows as a frown slowly came to his lips. Sarasa may have had permission to search his town, but kidnapping one of Toadstool's own citizens and causing injury to another... That was not a part of the deal.

"Peach, would you kindly take your friend to the infirmary for me? We need to stanch his wound before it runs the risk of becoming infected."

"Yes Father," Peach obeyed, walking over to the other side of the group and signaling for Toad to follow her. It took him a moment, for he suddenly gained a massive amount of interest in his injury. He never did notice just how much gravel was stuck in there. In all the excitement of the situation, he didn't even take time to observe the severity of his own wound. He soon snapped out of it however and turned to follow Peach. Before the two could go very far though, Peach came to a sudden halt and turned to her father.

"What are we going to do?" she asked simply, causing Toadstool to slowly look around at the group once more.

Before him stood the weeping mother, the worried father, the determined brother, and the concerned, injured friend...all looking back at him, waiting for his answer.

As he gazed around, he couldn't help but feel oddly attached to these people. Never before had he been all that concerned about the welfare of his citizens, but, somehow, this time, it just seemed different. He didn't know if it was because he actually saw the pains of these innocent victims in person, or because his daughter appeared to care so much about them, or because he simply felt obligated to live up to the title of a fair and just king, but he felt truly concerned about them all, as well as about this Luigi fellow. He felt that he had to do something to set things straight.

"Under King Sarasa's orders, a citizen of my kingdom has been taken without my consent: kidnapping," the king began, looking slightly downward and away as if setting himself into deep contemplation. "King Sarasa's men aggressively attacked an innocent citizen of my kingdom without provocation: assault. Two charges we can press them on right there."

The entire group seemed to get the king's message almost immediately and smiles soon spread all around. Mario, who appeared ready to put up a fight to convince the king to help his brother, let his defenses down with ease as his mother grinned brightly at the suddenly compassionate king, her large cheeks slightly stained with running tears.

"You can put your faith in me," King Toadstool continued, unconsciously smiling as well, seeming absorb the positive energy of everyone around him. "I promise you, I will have Luigi back as soon as possible. And I will surely be able to fetch you a hefty consolation for your injury at the hands of his men," he added with a smile towards Toad, who couldn't help but beam from ear to ear.

"Thank you," was all Mario could get himself to say. It was all anyone could say at that moment. But the king quickly disregarded the comment, remembering that it was his own shortsightedness that got everyone into that situation in the first place.

Still though, it felt oddly satisfying. As he insisted that Luigi's family explore the castle with a Toad guard guiding them, King Toadstool felt as if he were on top of the world.

Over the years, it seemed like he'd forgotten what it meant to be King. It wasn't only to sit on his throne and make sure everything remained in working order like some machine. He was the leader of an entire kingdom of peoples. And it was him that those people looked to for answers in their times of need and worry. It had been so long since a time like that had occurred though; it was almost as if doing his job so well that nothing ever went wrong was actually producing negative effects on him as a person. And it took him that event, that lack of his own judgment that caused a person's family and friends to suffer, to realize that he was there for his people. He was there to guide his people, to comfort his people, and to protect his people. And, though the situation itself certainly wasn't positive, it certainly felt pleasant to be reminded of just who he was as a king.

Well, it looked like that free time that was bugging him earlier was about to be put to some very good use.

–

Luigi was scared stiff. He and Daisy had been captured hours ago, yet he was still unable to believe that he was actually being taken to Sarasaland without any kind of reasoning as to why. He was even more distressed by Daisy's condition however, for she lied nearly motionless on a seat across from him, her hands and feet shackled, guarded on both ends by two Nokobons keeping a very close watch over her as four other Nokobons seemed to shift between staring at Luigi and gazing out the window uninterestedly.

Daisy put up a rather ferocious fight once the two of them were finally cornered by quite the mass of Nokobons back in Toad Town. She was terribly outnumbered, and Luigi's compromised predicament (not to mention his sheer fear of the situation) rendered him unable to help much, if at all. Still, she fought the Nokobons tooth and nail single-handedly, and actually managed to take a fair number of them down in the process. In the end though, one of them blindsided her with a harshly power shell shot to the back of her head, sending her to ground and knocking her out instantly.

Luigi was afraid she might be dead, and even a few of the Nokobons feared that their force was too strong with her, but, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that she was still breathing, thankfully. None of them wanted to have to resort to brute violence to subdue the princess, but it appeared that she left them with no other option. And, by the looks of it, Luigi wasn't about to put up a fight. Whether it was because he was in handcuffs, he was too worried about Daisy, or simply because he was too cowardly, he was easily maneuvered into an escort limo, along with the unconscious princess.

They'd been en route to the castle for about six hours. The early Sarasan evening wore the moon as its pendant only moments after the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. The limousine caravan had just barely entered the capitol of the Chai region. Even though the town looked as if it were a century or two behind the times, it still held a sort of feudal-era dignity about. The architecture of the buildings was quite low tech, most of them being made of simple wood and, occasionally, bricks. The streets were very alive, but very few cars zipped here and there, for most of the town's inhabitants chose to simply walk. The area was certainly contained enough to do so without very much hassle; much like Toad Town, it seemed like just about everything was right around the corner near the center of town, whereas the outliers of its boundaries contained residencies.

Everything about the place seemed oddly fascinating, from the street lights wrapped in paper-mache to the towering castle at the head of the town that not only commanded dominance by its size, but also by the fact that it appeared to be intricately designed out of mostly brick as opposed to the common wood. Luigi almost forgot that he didn't want to be there as he looked around. For a brief moment, he felt as if he were on a vacation to an exotic foreign land, but he quickly remembered that he was no tourist. He was a captive, forced to be there against his will. And he had no clue exactly what fate awaited him.

Daisy let out a low groan, finally rendering herself back into conscious as she stirred slightly in her seat. Everyone immediately turned their attention to her, Luigi with hopeful, sad eyes, the remainder with fearful, unsure eyes. Nobody knew how she was going to react upon reawakening. Would she go off on a rampage, despite being shackled at her hands and feet? Would she scream and yell until everyone's ears bled? All anyone could do was sit and wait for the outcome.

"Mmm," she muttered weakly, lifting her head up slightly, only to have it fall right back into its previous position. She gave a noticeable wince of pain as a tear strained itself out of her eye. For the first time since they lied her down, the large group of rider could see the back of her head for a brief moment. And what they observe sent a jolt through each of their hearts, Luigi's the mostly.

Her hair was matted with dry blood, and the cushion underneath was stained with a fair amount of it as well. It was a wonder nobody ever noticed the remarkably large stain, despite the fact it was rather well hidden. But, now that they'd seen it, they all couldn't help but worry. The princess would have to be rushed to a medical center immediately. And who knew just how the king was going to react to that...

Daisy head then turned slightly, resting on her cheek and exposing its backside once more to several Nokobons who looked on at it with great displeasure. Luigi couldn't help but let several tears escape as Daisy's eyes forced themselves open and looked directly into his. Or, as it felt, right past his. She smiled though. A weak, fragile smile, but a smile nonetheless. One that Luigi hated to see, yet wished would last forever.

"...Luigi," she managed to mutter after several seconds, appearing to shift in and out of consciousness at a distressing pace, her eyes fluttering open and closed as she struggled to control herself. All Luigi could do was watch as she dealt with her internal struggle, and the guards all around appeared unable to figure out just what to do as Daisy continued to speak. "I'm glad... I- ...I..."

Her mind felt so scattered. She couldn't even form the sentence she wanted to speak in her own mind. Her thoughts seemed to escape her, while at the same time return for but a brief moment, only to disappear yet again. She couldn't figure out what was going on. Her own brain was in an utterly frenzied state of confusion.

Fourth grade- All I could- Mom- My first kiss- _I'm_-

Peasley- Fairy tales- _glad-_

Not real- He passed every class- Happily ever- I don't want- _I...met..._

They're not- What happens after- Love- Real- _You-_

...Not real- ...Not real- _You- You're not-_

Fairy tales- No such thing- Not- Not- Not-_ Real._

_You're...not...real... Fairy tales...are not...real... Love...is not...real..._

"Not real," Daisy muttered allowing her eyes to close as her head returned to its previous position, covering the bloodied cushion once again. "It's not real..."

Though they were utterly perplexed by her words, everyone could silently and unanimously agree upon one thing: Daisy needed medical attention, fast.

Before that though, the guards decided it might be best to come up with a cover story. No doubt the king would be furious if the Nokobons informed him that it was one of them that inflicted such an injury to the princess. He may not have liked her much, but she was still his daughter, and something like that was _definitely_ not gonna fly.

"Just tell him this kid did it," one of the Nokobons suggested as he assisted one of his partners in the act of unshackling Daisy. "He's already going to the dungeon anyway, may as well make his sentence even longer."

"What!? But you guys-"

"Shut up," another one of the Nokobons commanded, standing on his hind legs and smacking Luigi hard across the face. "Like anything you say's gonna change our minds."

"Yeah kid, just keep yourself quiet over there," a third Nokobon joined in. "I think we're gonna need a bit more of a story though. I mean, the kid needs a reason to hurt Daisy like that."

"We can tell Sarasa that, when we found them, we tried to take them in all calm-like, but the kid overreacted when we told him that Daisy was a princess and blamed her for dragging him into this mess," a fourth Nokobon constructed, prompting nods of agreements from his colleagues.

"Yeah, that sounds believable enough," the third Nokobon said affirmatively. "So we just hand over Daisy, nice and unshackled, tell him the story, and we're home free."

The rest of the Nokobons nodded in hearty agreement as Luigi simply stared at Daisy unconscious body, tears escaping his eyes as thoughts of the once rough and tumble princess reduced to a helpless, fragile being raced through his mind.

What in the world was going on? Everything just seemed to move way too fast. Just earlier that day, he and Daisy were laughing together over lunch, and, now, he was handcuffed and she was bloody and unconscious... How did things change so drastically so fast...?

All he wanted to do was be back at home. With his family, laughing and chatting over a warm dinner that he probably cooked. His brother at his side, his mother and father there with him. He wanted Daisy to be back with her aunt, uncle, and cousin, playing sports and cheering for each other in their backyard, perhaps with Mister Monty relaxing and enjoying a cool Chuckola Cola. He wanted Toad, Tess, and Daisy defending Peach from the likes of Doog and his merciless advances. He wanted everything to be the way it was before.

But what he had was this...

–

"And that's the whole story Your Highness," the Nokobon elected out of the group to deliver the fib concluded with a bow to a rather unimpressed king.

"I see," Sarasa said quite simply, looking down from his throne at the confident Nokobon, over to a quivering, sniffling, frightened Luigi, and finally to a highly distressed Lakilulu who floated just next to his throne. According to the information Sarasa received from his own right-hand the previous night, most every aspect of the Nokobon's story was completely untrue. Plus, simply observing the wreck of a boy seemed to hint that he would never have the constitution to inflict such a serious injury on someone he had feelings for. Or, really, anyone for that matter.

Disappointed in his servant's blatantly fabricated lie, Sarasa decided to give the peon a second chance at redemption. "Is that truly everything, or do you wish to tell me more?"

"No Your Highness, that is everything," the Nokobon ensured, much to Sarasa's displeasure. He let out an exasperated sigh.

"Very well. If you cannot come up with a better lie, than I suppose I have no other choice," he spoke up, surprising the Nokobon and Luigi a fair bit, though Lakilulu appeared unchanged. She was obviously much more worried about the condition of the princess than the fate of the two that stood before her.

"My Lord-"

"You have no right to call me your Lord you insignificant worm," Sarasa shot acidly, causing the Nokobon to wince slightly. "How dare you come before me and tell me such a lie!"

"But, King Sarasa-"

"The health of my daughter, the future queen of this land, is in peril, and all you can think about is saving your own shell!" Sarasa continued, ignoring the unfaithful servant. "This boy obviously does not have the will or character to commit such an act! Look at him, he can barely stand before us as it is! What could he possibly hope to gain by injuring my daughter in such a fashion!? I doubt he could even do it if he tried!"

"But-"

"I do not know why I continue to waste my breath on the likes of you," Sarasa cut him off once more. "You have single-handedly shamed all of Sarasaland this day. You, and whoever servants helped you come up with such a ridiculous accusation, are hereby permanently banned from this land. You," he pointed at a Chibibo guard near the door, who promptly saluted, despite his Goomba-like body, "see this cretin and his lackeys out of this castle immediately. Should you see them ever again, do not refrain from showing hostile force."

"Sir!" the Chibibo guard shouted out before quickly rushing forward and roughly pushing the Nokobon in the direction of the door.

"But-But-But!" the Nokobon repeated until the doors closed behind him and the guard, sealing off his voice from the king's ears once and for all. Sarasa shortly closed his eyes and gently pressed two fingers against the sides of them as he let out a sigh.

"People. They always want for nobody but themselves. Selfish. The lot of them," he muttered under his breath, causing Lakilulu to gaze over at him with a perplexed look on her face. She'd heard many of the king's personal sayings in the past, but that one was completely new to her.

She hadn't much time to reflect on it however, for Sarasa soon returned his gaze back down to Luigi, who continued to quiver, though less violently, and look up at him, though Sarasa could tell the boy wanted to look away quite badly.

He was a fragile child. Skinny, weak in both body and spirit, completely without composure. What in the world did Daisy ever see in that boy? He was a shivering mess of shattered nerves just standing there. And that girl honestly preferred him over Peasley? That was hardly believable.

Believable or not though, that was, indeed, the boy Lakilulu claimed she saw with Daisy just the previous night. And he was finally within his custody. It was only a simple matter of settling his sentence and-

"E-Excuse me, Sir, um, I mean, Your Highness," Luigi spoke up, surprising both the king and his aide. Neither of them expected him to actually say anything. "If I, um- If I may ask. Why exactly are you, um, are you doing this?"

"Doing what boy?" Sarasa asked, having already grown weary of hearing Luigi speak. "Why did I take you from your home? Why am I about to imprison you?"

"No, um... I mean, Daisy," Luigi continued, nervous as ever as both the king and Lakilulu watched him, both of whom, for some reason, showed a slight hint of surprise that he was not asking about himself. "Daisy told me that, um-that you have her set up for a uh, a planned marriage. B-But, that's not what she wants."

"Daisy is too young and naïve to understand what I am doing for her," Sarasa answered, still slightly surprised at Luigi's selfless question. "But I do not think it is her you should be worrying about so much as yourself."

"But...what _are_ you doing for her?" Luigi persisted, boldly ignoring the king's hint to discontinue the subject as a little strength returned to his voice. "Is it really worth it to...to um, to make Daisy unhappy just so your plans..."

"Enough boy, you have already far exceeded your boundaries for questioning," Sarasa cut Luigi short, though, where agitation should have been, a small inkling of wonder shone through. This commoner appeared so fragile, yet he was so bold as to press the king himself for answers about his devices. Not once had Sarasa ever met anyone with the sheer courage to stand up to him and question his ways. But, as respectable as that was, it was also incredibly irritated. That boy deserved to ask one question and receive only one answer.

_How long is my sentence?_

"You will be held in our dungeons for up to one week," Sarasa informed, causing Luigi to look down toward the ground as he appeared to think. "I'm sure someone from your home will notice we have you in captivity and travel here to retrieve you by then. And if not, you may return to your kingdom with the aid of a personal assistant once your time has been done. However, if you should ever even gaze upon my daughter ever again before she is to be wed, I will have you returned to the dungeon for an undetermined amount of time. That is my ruling.

"Lakilulu, escort him to the dungeon," Sarasa commanded, prompting a nod from Lakilulu.

The Lakitu lady floated forth, silently urging Luigi to follow her, which he did without hesitation. For whatever reason, he wasn't scared. Not for himself at least. The fact that he was going to be in a dungeon for as long as a full week wasn't scary. Knowing that he'd be kept in some cell until someone got him or until he was granted his freedom wasn't scary. What _was_ scary was thinking about Daisy.

Was she going to be okay? Would she be able to bounce back from her head wound? How would it change her, going back to being a "full-time" princess? How would it change her, going back to her father? Would she still be the same Daisy everyone remembered and loved? So many questions, and no clear answer for a single one of them...

Mere moments after Lakilulu's and Luigi's departure, the door to Sarasa's throne room door flew open, alarming the mass of Sarasa's guards within the room, as well as Sarasa himself, once he discerned the figure that so rudely burst in.

The figure quickly slammed the door shut behind him and press his body up against it with his full might, obviously fighting off quite the formidable force that wanted to see him on the other side.

"Hey, can you call these guys off or something!?" the man managed to get out between strained grunts as the door threatened to explode open underneath the pressure. Sarasa quickly stood and took in a sharp breath.

"_CEASE!!_" he bellowed as loudly as he could, causing the force on the opposite side of the door to die down almost immediately, allowing the figure time to breathe as he turned around, rested his back against the door, and took in a deep, laughing breath.

"Haha, that's kinda cool. Wish I could do that with the interns at work," he spoke up as he continued to breathe heavily. The man appeared to be quite bruised, obviously having weathered a number of blunt strikes along his way up to the room. Among his battered features included a bloody nose and a limp leg, which he noticeably leaned off of as he began to head forward toward the king. The guards at the king's side immediately stepped forward in an attempt to strike, but Sarasa immediately settled them down.

"I knew I was an undesirable and all that...but damn bro...kill-on-sight?" the man chuckled as he continued to hobble forward. "What, do I got a bounty on my head out here? You hate me that much now?"

"What do you want Juno?" Sarasa spat, refusing to even look at the battered prince any longer as he finally came to a stop, a dozen feet away from the throne and six feet from the guards, all ready to attack.

"What else would I come all the way out to Sarasaland for?" Jeff answered nonchalantly, giving a shrug as he did so. "To see my bro."

* * *

**Footnote: If you're wondering how I came up with that last name for Mario's and Luigi's family, I actually did a little research. See, Shigeru Miyamoto himself said that Mario's and Luigi's last name is actually Mario ('Tis why they're called the "Mario" Brothers after all, though Mario Mario just sounds awkward.) However, I looked all the way back to when Mario was just known as Jumpman, and I learned that Mario was named after the landlord of the building in which Nintendo of America used to operate back then. The guy's name? Mario Segale. So I just stole that name and used it here. Hope nobody minds.**


	21. Family History

**C/N: Whoo, a new chapter, hot of the presses. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 21: "Family History"**

Jeff could feel the tensity surrounding the room as he looked around. Four guards, all pointing their spears directly at him, poised to attack. One king scowling down at him, appearing to wonder whether or not he should let his underlings have at the intruder. Even the air, in its complete silence, played as a factor of intimidation. However, despite the completely unwelcome situation, the smile on Jeff's face remained flawless. It was unsure whether it was there as a result of the joy he felt for having finally seen his brother after so many years, or if it was an expression of stubbornness, meant only irritate the king. Either way, it didn't appear to be going anywhere.

"Would it be too much to ask for a glass of water?" Jeff spoke up casually, slowly lowering himself to the ground to sit on the floor cross-legged. A couple of the guards took a step forward, unaware of what the man was going to do, but, once they realized he was simply sitting down, they settled down a fair bit. "Six hours of driving with no breaks and having to run for your life through a castle as big as this can be tiring."

Silence.

The guards remained still, all focusing completely on Jeff, who continued to stare up at his brother with that perpetual smile. Sarasa stared back, the scowl on his face persisting just as easily. Silently, a competition sprang up between the two brothers as they each watched the other carefully. The slightest move, the smallest of twitches, even a single blink, and the loser would be known. The test to see who was the weaker of the two had begun before any of the guards could pick up on it.

As Sarasa stared at his brother, he couldn't help but detect the awkward feeling of superiority emitting from his smile. To anyone else, it would appear to be a simple, calm expression. But to him, to Sarasa, it felt powerful. It felt demeaning. Weakening. A feeling Jeff could always instill within his little brother, since they were just toddlers. And, even after so much time being away from each other, he could still easily make Sarasa feel inferior, as if it were simply an innate skill. It was unbearable.

Seceding, Sarasa broke his gaze and slowly settled back down into his throne. "Leave," he commanded simply to his guards, who lowered their weapons and stepped toward the door, not without a bit of hesitation. They all kept their eyes fixed firmly on Jeff as they passed him by and left the room quite silently, the sound of the large double doors closing shut being the last sound they made. Just as Jeff continued to smile up at Sarasa, the king continued to look away from him, choosing to gaze blankly at the tiling of the floor instead.

Now that the two were alone, Jeff felt he could finally drop his act. He let out a sigh, his smile disappearing immediately, and gathered himself up from the floor as best he could. Folding his arms and leaning noticeably onto one leg, he looked up at the king, with a solemn expression on his face.

"I'm sorry," he apologized after several seconds, watching Sarasa closely for any sign of movement whatsoever. His little brother didn't shift at all. "Anything else I can say or do? I know it's taken longer for me to come back than I promised, but, well, stuff happens, ya know?"

Sarasa didn't say a word.

"I practically risked my life to get here bro," Jeff persisted, a hint of impatience in his voice. He felt on the verge of pleading for some sign of recognition. "The whole time, all I thought about was how best I could apologize to you. But I got nothin'. 'I'm sorry' is the best I can come up with."

Again, silence.

"You know I'm not good at stuff like this. You being all quiet like that isn't really helping," Jeff muttered, unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck as he looked away from Sarasa for the first time since entering the room. His arms seemed to automatically refold themselves as he glanced back at his brother, hoping he would have the mercy to say _something_.

But, yet again, Sarasa stayed quiet.

"The silent treatment doesn't work on me as well as it did when we were kids," Jeff commented with a small smile. "Your daughter does the same thing when she's upset you know. Just like you. She'd stay quiet for days-"

"If you came for Daisy, then you have wasted your time," Sarasa finally said, still refusing to look at Jeff. "I will not relinquish her. To anyone. Especially you."

"What, you didn't believe what I said earlier?" Jeff responded, causing Sarasa to glance at him from the side of his eye. "I admit, if you hadn't taken Daisy, I probably wouldn't have come out here, but she's not the whole reason why I decided to visit. I came here to see you."

"...Since when has seeing me been a priority of yours?" Sarasa asked, the slightest hint of insecurity showing in his voice.

"Since I realized that it wasn't a priority anymore," Jeff answered with a quieted voice, ashamed to admit the sad fact about himself. "I'm sorry Sarasa. I shouldn't have just left you like I did. And I shouldn't have made all those promises if I wasn't going to keep them. I'm sorry about everything."

Really? Sorry about being gone for over two decades? Sorry about leaving Sarasa behind, charged with running an entire kingdom from the age of fourteen by himself? Sorry about leading what some might call a perfectly happy life while his brother struggled to simply keep himself together day after day? Jeff's decision caused more damage to Sarasa than he would ever know. And now, he was expecting to receive forgiveness just for saying that he was sorry? Those two, small words...they could never make up for the years Sarasa was left to suffer.

–

"_What should we name him darling?"_ Lilly, the former queen of Sarasaland, would ask her husband minutes after the birth of their first son.

Sarasa the Second, former king, would look upon his son, beaming with pride as the newborn prince squirmed about in his mother's arms, becoming acquainted with the new world he was now a part of. Sarasa lowered himself to the level of his reclined wife, smiling just as she did as his mind settled on the perfect name almost instantly.

"_Juno,"_ he answered softly.

"_After your grandfather?"_ Lilly would ask, prompting a small nod from her king.

"_Yes. My grandfather was the wisest man I've ever known. And I see much of his wisdom in our son."_

"_Then Juno it is,"_ the queen would agree with a smile, agreeing that, albeit barely developed as he was, their new son showed great promise in possessing the same wisdom as his great grandfather.

It was an exciting time, not only for the new parents, but for the entire kingdom. Citizens couldn't wait to flock to the castle's doorstep with gifts and well wishes for the new prince. Visitors from all regions of Sarasaland, and even a fair number from neighboring kingdoms, crowded the castle before the new parents could have time to even see their own son for more than a few minutes.

It wasn't long before Prince Juno had more appointments than the king and queen. Constantly carried all about the castle by a busy Lakilulu at all times of the day, Lilly and Sarasa hardly ever even knew where their baby was. But they had to admit that such a thing was to be expected. They were royalty. Their lives were naturally busy. And with a new member in the family, it was foreseeable that things would only get more hectic before they cooled down.

Little did they know, however, that a mere three months after having Juno, Sarasa and Lilly would discover that they had yet another on the way.

Just when things were finally settling down a year after Juno's birth, Sarasa the Third arrived, and the maniacal fuss started all over again. Mercifully, the king and queen were at least able to spend a bit more time with their first born, but at the consequence of having virtually no idea where their second ever was. They could only trust he was kept within the castle walls and that Lakilulu hadn't keeled over from all the constant work she was piled with thanks to the arrival of the new babies. It may well have been the new baby episodes that made her into the worrywart she would prove to be years later.

Once the fuss over Sarasa the Third finally settled down, the royal family was allowed to live in relative peace. The boys would be able to spend their days just being children, and growing into loving, well-rounding brothers. Yes, things went along swimmingly for quite some time. That is, until a frantic Lakilulu delivered dour news to the family during their dinner ten years later.

"_Your Highness, the naval base in Muda has come under attack by the Darklands airship fleet,"_ she informed, causing the entire family to look over at her in shock simultaneously. _"They have already overwhelmed the base, it is gone, and the fleet heads for Easton next."_

"_What is the meaning of this, Sarasaland and the Darklands are at peace!" _King Sarasa responded furiously, standing from his chair at the head of the table.

"_It appears the citizens of the Darklands have risen in opposition to the treaty their leader signed with us,"_ Lakilulu explained quickly. _"Their king is of a weak will. Afraid of having his people turn against him, he bent to their demands and launched an attack, despite our negotiations. Please Your Highness, we must respond quickly. The people of Easton are in danger."_

"_Damn it all!"_ Sarasa swore loudly as he began to leave the table, the eyes of his frightened family following him as he headed for the exit from the dining room. _"Send our fifth fleet to Easton at once and evacuate the citizens! I hate to do battle on my own land, but it seems we have no other choice."_

And thus began the second recorded war between Sarasaland and the Darklands in history. Ruthlessly disregarding their newly-gained ally for the simple sake of pride in the kingdom, the Darklands military was sent off to Sarasaland in relentless waves that Sarasa had no choice but to combat. Thankfully, after the initial battle in Easton, Sarasaland's military was quick enough with its response to head off the Darklands forces on a neutral ground. But that didn't erase the fact that the forces of the Darklands proved far too overbearing for the might of Sarasaland, and it wasn't long before the normally peaceful kingdom was on its last leg, two years after the war's start.

"_Please Sarasa, there must be some other way we can end this!"_ Lilly pleaded with her husband as he took up his sword and shield, headed down the main hallway of his castle with a look of determination in his eyes. _"We can negotiate! We can try to talk to them! We can even surrender, I don't care-"_

"_I would sooner die than surrender Lilly. You should know that,"_ the king would respond with a calm voice.

"_But what if you do die out there!? What if you don't come back!?"_

"_Then it'll be up to you,"_ Sarasa responded simply, slowing his steady walk down to a stall as his wife hugged him from behind, staining the back of his armor with tears. He would never admit it himself, but he was scared as well. But for his wife, his sons, and his entire kingdom, he was determined that he would never falter. He would go into the front lines himself and make a stand in the midst of battle. His mere presence would give his men strength, and his sword would weaken the enemy. Everything was riding on his two shoulders. It was all up to him. And he couldn't leave his home without sharing some of his strength with his own wife.

"_If I should fall out there, you must promise me you will never give up,"_ Sarasa spoke up softly for the sake of his crying wife. _"Promise me you'll defend our kingdom as best you can until this whole mess is over. Promise me our boys grow up to be strong, able men. Okay Lilly? I want you to promise."_

"_I...I promise Sarasa,"_ Lilly answered through her tears, without letting up on the firm hold she had on her husband. _"I promise..."_

Both of their boys stood by, watching in silence from the shadows. Neither of them could believe their eyes. Their father wasn't really about to go out to the front lines was he? He wasn't really going to leave them all behind and risk his life out there... He wasn't really going to leave them...

Prince Sarasa couldn't help but let his emotion get the better of him as he watched his father walk out the castle's front entrance, leaving behind his wife to stand in the middle of the carpet, crying. Young Sarasa imitated his mother, letting tears stream down his face as he hoped for his father to return safely. Juno, standing next to him, wrapped an arm around his little brother, ensuring him that their father was going to be okay. He was strong. He was fearless. And he was going to return from the battlefield someday, announcing Sarasaland's victory over the malicious forces of the Darklands. Juno promised that things were going to be okay.

If only his words held as much power as he wished they could.

Several months later, it was reported that the king had fallen in battle, overtaken in a battle between him and six enemy forces all at once. His skill with the sword was enough to cut his enemies down until only two remained, but one of them managed to unsheathe a concealed dagger and stab the king through the heart.

And now, the weight of the war fell onto the queen's shoulders.

Thankfully, in the time between the late king's decision to go to battle himself and the moment he was slain, the forces of the Darklands began to wane noticeably. The ravages of war were taking their toll on the attackers as well as the victims, and the queen felt it was time to finally put an end to all the useless battling. The war started over nothing, and both sides lost much thanks to it. Another treaty was in order if the fighting was to ever stop, and the grounds on which it was to be signed had to be neutral for the safety of both kingdoms.

Agreeing to meet with the king of the Darklands on the very battleground that most of the war took place on, Queen Lilly departed alongside several of her most able retainers. Now, it was Prince Sarasa's turn to plead that she not go. He couldn't bear to see another member of his family depart without insurance that she would return safely.

"_Sarasa, there's no need to worry about me,"_ Lilly ensured her wet-faced son as she pulled him into an embrace. _"I'm leaving in order to present a peace treaty. This way, the war can finally end, and we can put a stop to all of this."_

"_But...I don't want you to go,"_ Sarasa cried as his older brother observed from several feet away, his arms folded. _"Father never came back. What if you don't come back either?"_

"_I'll be fine darling,"_ Lilly promised with a smile. _"I'll be back before you know it. And everything will be okay."_ Sarasa only whimpered as his grip on his mother tightened even more. _"Mind your brother and Lakilulu while I'm gone okay? They'll take care of you until I get back."_

At this, Sarasa finally let go of his mother and allowed her to leave. The scene looked remarkably reminiscent of the one that played out several months ago, with Sarasa in Lilly's place and Lilly in the place of the king. Even Juno stood in the same spot as last time. But this time, instead of consoling his brother, a singular tear ran down his cheek as he watched his mother leave. He couldn't show it to his little brother, but he felt just as scared.

As Sarasa glanced over at him, Juno quickly dried his face, pretending he was scratching an itch as he stepped forward toward his younger brother. Wrapping one arm around him and leading him out of the hall, Juno tried his hardest not to let another tear escape his eyes.

"_Is Mother going to be okay Juno?"_

"_Yeah Sarasa, she is. I promise."_

The next day, the news spread like wildfire. Both Queen Lilly and the king of the Darklands, assassinated by an enraged anarchist. Armed with a dozen high-powered, manufactured Bob-Ombs, the lone attacker laid siege on the grounds of the peace treaty by bombarding it with the explosives after sneaking up to the location with the application of a simple Boo Sheet. The anarchist was executed immediately, but that didn't repair the fact that the Sarasaland royal house was now reduced to only two: Prince Juno and Prince Sarasa.

It wasn't uncommon for Sarasa to lock himself away in his room, crying his days away at the loss of his two parents in such a short timespan. He felt so alone. So scared. So uncertain about everything. The only relief he could find was in the fact that the war had come to an end along with the stray attack at the signing of the peace treaty, but that didn't serve as consolation at all.

It would be several weeks before he could finally get over his grief just enough to leave his room one night and seek the company of his older brother. The last remaining member of his family was all he could look to for comfort. But, as he entered the prince's room, he would find that he was not there.

Where was he? It was dreadfully late at night, nearly two in the morning. He couldn't have possibly been anywhere else...

Hold on, what was this? A note was waiting on Juno's night stand, sitting, ready to be observed by anyone who bothered to read it. A paperweight held it in place, for a gentle breeze could be feel coursing through the room as Sarasa approached the stand and picked up the letter, holding it close to his face as he strained to read it in the dim light.

"_To Sarasa,_

"_I'm only assuming you'd find this first, since nobody else ever comes into my room. Let me just say this outright. I'm sorry. About everything that's happened in the past, and about what I'm going to do right now._

"_You see, I've decided that I'm leaving the castle. With Mom and Dad gone, and with me being expected to be the next king...it's just all too sudden for me. It's a lot of pressure. I just can't take it. I mean, I figured I had a good twenty, maybe thirty years to go, but now... I don't want all of that responsibility on my shoulders already. I'm not ready for it._

"_I know, this is the most selfish thing in the world, but I just can't stay here knowing that it's going to be up to me take care of this place. I mean, I know you're not any more prepared for it than I am but... You have no idea how sorry I am about doing this..._

"_I've arranged for an acquaintance of mine from the Mushroom Kingdom to come and take me there. By the time anyone sees this letter, I should already be there. Please, don't come looking for me. Because I won't agree to return._

"_Take care of yourself Sarasa. And look after Lakilulu too, she's getting a little schizoid nowadays. I promise I'll come back some day Sarasa. Hey, don't forget about me while you're up here being all kingly alright?_

_Juno"_

And, with the reading of that letter, Sarasa was truly alone. Hardly a teenager and greatly unprepared to take up the title of "King", Sarasa was forced to live alone in a castle once populated by his family. His mother and father, dying within mere days of each other, and his cowardly brother, running away from his responsibilities, were all gone. Sarasa had no choice. He was the only one left. And, with Lakilulu at his side, all he could do was try his best to govern his land and become the man his father hoped for both of his sons to be.

Thankfully, he was able to achieve that dying wish. But with it came so many trials and heartache that he eventually lost sight of the man his father wanted him to be and became the man he never wanted to be. An insecure, untrusting, controlling tyrant. He became cold. Almost to the point of heartlessness. The welfare of his citizens meant nothing to him, the emotions of others were secondary to their assigned responsibilities, his servants were just that, mere servants. He disallowed himself to grow close to anything anymore. In fear that what he cherished most would be stolen from him in the long run.

And then, Daisy came along.

Daisy was his beacon of hope. She was his chance to make amends for the wrongs that were committed against him during his own childhood. And he was determined to give her the life that he felt he himself deserved to have, but never received.

A mere three years later however, her mother died, having taken her own life while Sarasa was away. Little did anyone know that he was off in the Beanbean Kingdom on the day she poisoned herself in an attempt to simply track down a bean fruit for his wife. He remembered how she so adored the firm texture and delicious taste of the food, and he meant it as a surprise cake topping for her in celebration of her birthday the very next day. Since Daisy was born, Sarasa was a changed man, having slowly become more family-oriented than he was in those days where he lived with just his wife. And on the day that he decided to act on an utterly spontaneous impulse, such an event occurred to remind him just how cold the world truly was to him.

Shortly after returning to discover a deceased wife, Sarasa went straight back to the Beanbean Kingdom to arrange for a marriage between Daisy and Queen Bean's young son, Peasley. At least, then, he would be able to ensure that _one_ thing went as planned in the future while at the same time securing Daisy's future as a queen and extending his family to include the nobility of the Beanbean Kingdom. His only duty at that point was living to see the day that Daisy was to be wed to the man.

And, of course, even that was mere inches away from going completely off course.

"You left me here Juno," Sarasa muttered after a long silence, causing Jeff to look away once more, his face etched with shame. "You left me here to figure everything out on my own. I had no guidance. No family. I had to do everything for myself...

"Then, I go out on a limb, entrust my daughter to your care, and you attempt to convince Lakilulu that I'm being too overbearing on her. Then what do you do?" Sarasa continued, his voice picking up volume and quite a ferocious tone as he rose from his throne and began to step forward staring at his brother with malicious. "You come all the way here, after twenty-one years, and expect to clear everything up with 'I'm sorry'!?"

Jeff was sent to the ground harshly as Sarasa, in his rage, balled his fist and struck him with all his might, emitting a loud banging sound as the blow connected with the side of his head. Feeling rather dazed, Jeff could only shake his head and try to regain his bearings as Sarasa quickly stepped forward, knelt down, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"You are a disgrace to this family Juno!" Sarasa shouted angrily as he pulled Jeff back to his feet to meet his eye to eye. "I'm ashamed to have a coward like you as a brother!"

Jeff was then sent stumbling across the room as Sarasa pushed him away as powerfully as he could. The prince crashed against the wall next to the door, banging the back of his head so hard a noticeable cracking sound could be heard from the collision. He immediately placed a hand on the point of impact, hoping to soothe the immense pain as best he could before Sarasa launched his next attack.

"Twenty-one years!" the king persisted, stepping forward toward his brother. "Twenty-one years, and not even the decency to pay a single visit! I haven't heard a word from you Juno! Not a single goddamn word!"

As he spoke, Sarasa had begun to raise his hand in preparation for another strike, but, as Jeff prepared himself for the blow, he noticed that the hand remained still, suspended in the air, straining against the immense urge to bear down on its target. Its holder, however, held it back as he dropped his angered gaze away from his brother and his eyes began to set forth a stream of tears. The scared, helpless boy was returning through the blind fury, and Sarasa was powerless to stop himself from dropping his hand and approaching an empty portion of the wall. He placed his arm against it, acting as a rest for the top of his head, which pressed against it as he slouched and let his tears fall to the floor.

"I'm tired of it Juno," he muttered through his tears as Jeff looked over at him, having a difficult time focusing his vision as he did so. "I'm tired of having everyone leave me. Father, Mother, you, my wife, and now Daisy. It keeps happening, again and again... And I'm so goddamn tired of it..."

"Sarasa..."

"Leave," Sarasa commanded quietly. "Don't come back. You haven't for twenty-one years, so why return now? As long as I still have Daisy. As long as she marries Peasley. Everything that I've worked for will not fail. I don't need you. Or anyone else. Just my daughter."

"I'm not leaving Sarasa," Jeff responded firmly. "I came here to make things right. And I'm not leaving until I do."

"It's too late to 'make things right'!" Sarasa suddenly shouted. "There is _nothing_ you can do, okay!? Nothing! Now leave me while I still have the good sense to let you escape!"

"No," Jeff said simply, defiantly. "I'm not going anywhere Sarasa."

"Guards!" Sarasa called out immediately, turning away from the wall and facing his throne as the door burst open in order to hide away his tears. "Take this intruder to the dungeon. Now."

Without hesitation, the guards that were previously ready and willing to attack Jeff where he stood roughly brought him to his feet and escorted him hastily out of the throne room. Once the door was closed once more and silence stood victorious over the length of the room for several seconds, Sarasa made his slow ascent back to his throne.

Slowly, he took his seat. Several moments passed wherein he simply gazed at nothing. And he buried his face in his hands, feeling that life was putting him through yet another of its cruel tests.

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**Footnote: Anyone actually feeling sorry for Sarasa yet? I kinda do. Anyway, see you next chapter!**


	22. Giving Up

**Hey there everyone. I just wanna let you know this chapter's a fair bit heavier on the dialogue than normal. Just hope it doesn't detract from the reading experience at all. Hope you enjoy!**

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Chapter 22: "Giving Up"

Once upon a time, long, long ago, there lived a beautiful, fair maiden. Her name was...and she was loved far and wide by was a kind princess. Her heart was pure as gold.

_This isn't me..._

She led an infinitely peaceful life alongside her father, the good King...who was equally as loved and respected as his daughter. Throughout his rule, the king's vast kingdom was as prosperous as ever. The future of the land looked very bright.

_This isn't what happens..._

However, one day, dark clouds loomed ominously over the horizon. The people were frightened as a sense of foreboding washed across the land. A dark force was quickly approaching, and it caught the attention of the king and the princess immediately.

_This isn't real..._

"What does this forebode Father?" the princess asked worriedly, clasping on to the king's robes as the winds picked up to a violent velocity.

"I do not know," the king answered. "But we must be prepared for anything."

Lightning crashed down from the heavens, striking violent gashes into the earth as helpless citizens screamed in panic. Thunder clapped with enough force to topple buildings nestled below. Gusts of wind blew by at such a rapid pace, some unfortunate villagers were swept away into its unforgiving strength. Pure chaos overran the streets just as quickly as the clouds shrouded out the sky.

This storm was no natural disaster. It was commanded by the infamous warlock...driven by pure evil to kill relentlessly and seek out the princess of the land.

_Stop it..._

"Ah, Princess... I have found you at last!" the warlock cackled evilly as he stood over the frail maiden who lied over her fallen father in a vain attempt to protect him from any further harm. "I suggest you forget about the dirty old man. You have much more dire matters to worry about you know!"

The princess was gone. The town was destroyed. The king was dead. All within the matter of a single afternoon. The few survivors that made it through the attack were either too traumatized to move or busily searching the wreckage for family and friends they would never find. It was a truly dismal scene.

The next day, a new figure appeared, approaching the town from the far horizon.

_That's enough..._

He came forth, atop a shimmering white steed.

_I said that's enough..._

He was a knight, adorned in the most majestic armor one would ever see.

_Shut up!!_

The scene disappeared immediately as Daisy stepped forward, out of the mass of darkness in which she was forced to idly listen and watch. She couldn't take another word of that horrid story. That tale of lies.

"There is no 'long, long time ago' okay!? There's no fair and gentle king, no golden-hearted princess, no evil warlock! There's no such thing as a knight in shining armor! None of this is real! None of this is true about my life at all!"

Daisy cried as she stood there, feeling utterly helpless for the first time in a very long while. She was desperate. She wanted to be heard. But no one was there to listen.

"I don't want to be a character in a story," she muttered, her rage being quickly replaced by loneliness and an odd feeling of fear. She unconsciously folded her arms across her chest, holding herself tightly as if she were trying to protect herself. "I don't want to be a golden-hearted princess who has to rely on a knight to save her. I don't want to be the stereotype everyone expects me to be."

She slowly lowered herself to the unseeable ground, wrapping her arms around her bent legs as he rested her forehead against her knees.

"I just want to be me. I don't want my life to be another love story."

_Why not? _a familiar voice asked. Whoever spoke up sounded as if they were very near Daisy, but she didn't bother to see who was speaking as she thought about the question.

"Why not?" Daisy repeated, as if asking herself the question. "Because I don't wanna be just like those girls in fairy tales," she began. "Because love doesn't always make everything turn out for the best. Love can hurt sometimes. It can hurt a lot. And something always happens to love. It dies. It proves to be untrue. It fades away. And you're left feeling insecure about everything, about yourself, about life in general-"

_It sounds to me like you're only thinking about the negatives,_ the voice cut her off matter-of-factly, though Daisy wasn't about to deny the claim. _Love can bring a lot of good too._

"It can," Daisy agreed with little conviction. "But that doesn't mean it always will. Chances are, it won't."

_Why do you say that?_

Daisy lifted her head slowly and looked directly in front of her, her face stained with the tears that weren't soaked into her jeans. She rested her chin on her knees now as she gave her answer.

"Love is blinding," she responded with a quiet voice. "It makes people believe in things that aren't real. That such a feeling can exist forever, though it rarely seems to last longer than a year or two. And even if it did last...that doesn't mean that we do.

"Nobody's immortal. All of us have to give up those feelings in the end. And those of us that are left behind when a loved one leaves are stuck with sadness that feels impossible get over. Why should I put myself in danger of feeling that pain if I can easily be happy on my own?"

_You make a good point,_ the voice agreed whole-heartedly, though Daisy could tell its next word would either be "but" or a variation thereof. _Love is a finite feeling, and our lives are finite as well. But couldn't you use that same argument as a means of promoting love just as easily?_

Maybe. Daisy figured she was about to find out how that was possible.

_Because our lives do have to come to an end some day, why don't we try our best to make the most of it? Yes, the end of love can leave you a shattered person, but the feeling it gives you while it persists is insurmountable. Why settle for a life of comfortable familiarity when you have the opportunity to take a chance and uncover something that's so much more?_

Take a chance... Why did those words instill so much fear in Daisy?

She didn't want to take a chance. She didn't want to put herself on the line if it meant she might be hurt in the end. Not if it meant feeling the same way she felt when she witnessed her own mother die before her very eyes.

"I don't want that to happen to me again..." Daisy muttered, her voice small and weak like it was so many years ago as more tears escaped from her watery eyes. "I don't want to feel that pain anymore..."

The holder of the voice slowly faded into Daisy's vision as she attempted to wipe her tears away. The boy who favored green stood before her, his melancholic eyes gazing down at the weeping princess as she stared back up at him through blurred vision. He stepped forward and knelt down before her, extending what was meant to be a comforting arm that was soon pushed away.

"Don't touch me," Daisy commanded, a small amount of strength returning to her voice as the boy retracted his arm, hurt by her rejection. She looked away from him, unable to take in his saddened face as she spoke. "It was a mistake, letting myself fall for you like I did. How do I know that you won't end up breaking my heart too?"

_Daisy-_

"Just leave me alone," she cut him off. "You're not my knight. You're not my savior or my guiding light, you're not anything. You're just an unlucky boy who I'm sorry to have gotten wrapped up in my life."

_Are you just going to give up?_

"Maybe... Maybe I am," Daisy answered, lowering her forehead back to her knees. "Maybe that would just be the best thing to do..."

Luigi's image began to fade away as Daisy spoke, disappearing further and further as she continued to push him away.

"I don't have any control over my own life," she continued without noticing that the boy was escaping her. "I fight so hard, but, in the end, I don't have anything. And I can't change anything. So why should I bother trying anymore? Why should I care?"

She hadn't heard Luigi say anything for a while now. She expected him to interrupt at some point. Why was he being so quiet all of a sudden?

...Oh. He was gone... No matter where Daisy looked, she couldn't spot him anywhere. Well, that was a good thing right? She wanted him to leave didn't she? She wanted him to disappear. Yet, she couldn't keep herself from feeling remorseful.

She hugged her legs closer and rested her head on her knees once more. She was alone. She was helpless. And she'd given everything up.

–

"Do you think Daisy's gonna be okay?" Luigi asked, a great amount of concern reflected in his voice as Lakilulu undid his handcuffs just inside of the cell in which he'd be held. Both she and Luigi had been completely quiet for the duration of the ten-minute journey down to the dungeon, and it was quite apparent what was occupying both of their minds.

"I trust the princess will be well. She is in the care of this castle's own medical staff after all," Lakilulu answered with a deadpan voice as Luigi's wrists clicked free, allowing him to finally stretch out his aching arms. "I must now detain any items you currently possess on your person. Hold your arms out from your sides," she commanded. Luigi followed orders and allowed the old Lakitu to begin the process of frisking him. He didn't appear to mind in the least as she extracted his cell phone and wallet however, for Daisy remained prominent in his mind.

"Hey um, could you do me a favor?" Luigi asked as Lakilulu ended her search and tucked the liberated items away into her cloud. "I mean, if it's not too much to ask."

Lakilulu couldn't help but give the boy an odd look as she floated back out of the cell, slid the metal door shut and locked it. He was behaving in an oddly calm manner despite his situation. He didn't seem to care at all that he was being held in a prison underneath the castle. And he seemed awfully casual about asking for a favor.

However, as she continued to look at him, she recalled his selfless demeanor in the face of the king. He was genuinely more concerned about the princess than he was about himself. And, without knowing it, he earned himself a fair amount of merit from the Lakitu.

"What is your request?" she asked, prompting a sudden uncontrollable smile from Luigi that disappeared almost instantly.

"Could you visit Daisy and tell me how she's doing?" he requested.

Lakilulu's mouth hung slightly open as she forgot to give her answer and instead began to think about Luigi's motives. Why did he continue to care so much about the princess despite his situation?

"That is within my realm of possibilities," she responded, floating a bit toward the stairs but stopping before the metal bars ended. "But, you do understand that you may never see the princess again. It has been outlawed by the king."

Luigi let out a small grumble as he held his left shoulder, massaging it as best he could while he gazed down at the ground, remembering the sad fact. If he was caught even looking at Daisy again, he'd end up right back in that cell. He'd put himself at risk if he tried to even get close to her again...

"Well, yeah, I know," he muttered with a sigh as he leaned on his side against the wall. "But Daisy means a whole lot to me. I mean, she's the first girl that's ever actually cared about me. She made me feel confident about myself, and every time I see her-er, well, saw her at least, I felt lucky. Lucky that I was ever able to meet her in the first place.

"I care about her. I really, really want her to be okay. And I want to know that she is. Even if I can't see her anymore, I just want to know."

Lakilulu simply looked at Luigi for several silent moments as Luigi appeared to stare at the wall opposite of himself. Lakilulu could see that his eyes were filled with worry, and it was quickly evident that every word he said, he meant with every fiber of his being. And it would be the least Lakilulu could do to fulfill his wish.

"I will return momentarily," Lakilulu informed shortly before floating away toward the stairs, leaving Luigi behind to continue his distant stare as memories overrode his mind. And there were so many of them to recall. It was hard to believe he'd just met her a little over a week ago.

Before he could reminisce for very much longer though, he could hear a terrible racket coming from the stare. Snapping out of his trance-like state, Luigi stepped over to the bars of the cell and peered down the hall as far as he could.

Barely making out the slumping figure of a grunting, panting man collapsed on the ground, Luigi could tell he'd fallen down the stairs. Or been pushed rather, as was made evident by the snarky, gruff voice that followed from above the stairs.

"_Hah_, never thought I'd get ta do that to a member of the royal fam'ly," the voice spoke up with a snicker as the man on the floor began to gather himself up.

"Glad I could...be there to see you fulfill that lifelong wish of yours," the man responded sarcastically through panting, pained breaths. "Brings my heart joy...to witness folks live out their dreams."

"Jus' shuddup will ya?" the second voice spat as he approached the foot of the stairs, making sure to bother himself with a kick to the first man's gut, making himself double over once more and extend a weak arm out to hold himself up against a wall. "I try ta enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you go an' ruin it by pretendin' ta like it more'n me."

"My apologies. I'll be sure to be...utterly miserable. Just for you," the first man replied, stumbling forward as the second pushed him roughly, bringing them both fully into Luigi's sight. He was quite surprised to see exactly who it was that was being beaten towards the cell opposite of his.

"Jeff?" Luigi absently spoke up, causing both of the men to look over at him. Jeff smiled instantly upon seeing the boy, whereas the human behind him simply scowled.

"Well, hey there-"

Jeff was cut off by a fierce strike to the side of the head that sent him crashing into the bars of his cell and would cause Luigi to step back in fear. As the brutal guard continued to try his best to demean his prisoner while locking him within the confines of his cell, Luigi couldn't help but wonder why in the world they treating him so badly. He obviously must have come to see Daisy, but he was the king's brother wasn't he? So why was he so bloody and bruised and currently being locked up in the opposite cell?

"Hope ya like yer stay here. We'll be seein' a lotta each other,"the guard grumbled sarcastically as he went to leave. He made sure to shoot a nasty glare at Luigi that succeeded in making the boy flinch before he returned back upstairs.

Once the guard was out of sight, Luigi approached the cell bars once more and looked over at his new dungeon mate with a concerned gaze. He wished he could help him in some kind of way, but Jeff actually proved to retain much more strength than his poor outward condition let on.

After lying on the ground for some seconds, Jeff made relatively easy work of dragging himself back to his feet. He stumbled a bit once he was fully erect, but, after standing perfectly still for a while, he appeared to be fine. Well, as fine as he could be in his condition.

"How come he was treating you like that?" Luigi asked as Jeff made his way over to his small, hard bed and took a seat. He soon began to examine his many various wounds as he gave Luigi his answer.

"I'm not exactly welcome around here anymore," he responded with a light tone as he checked out both of his bruised elbows and a small, bleeding cut on his left arm. "And, apparently, the guards around here don't exactly like most of us royal family members. They sure like beating me up at least."

Jeff took a moment to glance over at Luigi, who continued to look quite worried about his battered appearance. He figured he probably wasn't helping much by inspecting his own wounds and decided to simply relax.

"But don't worry about me. I've been through worse."

He actually hadn't, but anything to help Luigi calm down a bit.

"What about you?" he asked, leaning back against the wall casually as if he were simply speaking with a roommate. "This has to be kinda scary for you doesn't it? Bet you never imagined you'd end up in a place like this."

Following Jeff's example, Luigi too seated himself on his equally as uncomfortable bed, leaning forward as he clasped his hands together and looked toward the floor as Daisy reentered his mind.

"I was scared at first," he admitted, "But I'm more worried about Daisy than anything. I'm waiting for the Lakitu lady to come back and tell me how she is."

A Lakitu lady huh? So Lakilulu was gonna be down there pretty soon.

"When that lady comes back, would you mind just pretending I'm not here?" Jeff asked, causing Luigi to look over at him in confusion. "She's an old friend of mine," the prince began to explain as he stood back up and leaned against the back corner of his cell. "I don't want her to see me all beaten up like this. It'd just get her even more worried."

It wasn't long before the two of them could hear the odd, pulsating murmur of a Lakitu's cloud approaching them, and Jeff soon took his eyes off Luigi and looked toward the wall standing right next to him, employing an "I don't see you, you don't see me" mentality in hopes that it would work effectively as Lakilulu made her return. Luigi was quick to switch his attention to her as soon as she came into his vision, and, thankfully, he was all she noticed within the dungeon.

"The princess is well," she informed Luigi, bringing a contagious smile to his face that reflected in Lakilulu's own features without her notice. "She rests in the recovery ward at the moment. It is estimated she will reawaken tomorrow."

"Good," Luigi muttered with a relieved sigh, allowing his tensed shoulders to finally relax. "I'm glad she's okay."

With a nod, Lakilulu figured it was time to leave the temporary prisoner to his own devices. He found out what he wanted to know, and her job was done concerning his welfare.

As she began to float away though, she couldn't help but feel a sudden emergence of compassion for the young man. It wasn't his fault at all that he was in such an unsavory position. All he wanted to do was be with a girl he held certain feelings for, and he was being punished for it. He was brought to that dungeon unfairly, and, even with his current situation in mind, he continued to only think of the princess. Lakilulu felt that she had to do something to make it up to him somehow. He deserved something better than what he'd received upon entering the castle.

It wasn't long before Lakilulu turned around and returned to Luigi's cell, prompting him to look over at her once more.

"If you would like," she began rather quietly, "I can speak with His Highness on your behalf and attempt to arrange an audience with Princess Daisy for you when she awakens. So you may see her one last time."

"Really?" Luigi spoke up, his smile growing brighter than ever as he rose from his seat and approached the bars. "That'd be great! Thank you!"

"It is no trouble at all," Lakilulu responded, once again imitating Luigi's effervescent smile. "I will speak with His Majesty right away."

With that, Lakilulu departed, and Luigi looked after her for as long as he could before she disappeared up the stairs and out of his sight. Once she was gone, he looked back over at Jeff, who'd already taken his place back on his stone slab of a bed. He chuckled as he observed Luigi's overjoyed smile.

"Must be the first good news you've gotten all day," he spoke up as Luigi returned to his bed as well, leaning back against the wall as he began to think about Daisy's smiling face.

"I hope I get to see her again," he said. "Do you think she'll be able to convince the king to let me see her?"

She probably couldn't, considering the king was already having a mental breakdown. He was hard enough to deal with when he was perfectly sane, but, mostly thanks to Jeff's unexpected appearance, it was doubtful he'd be willing to show anyone any mercy at all.

But telling that to Luigi wouldn't do him very much good now would it?

"If anyone could convince Sarasa into doing something, Lulu's the one," Jeff answered carefully, not promising that she would succeed, but avoiding downright telling Luigi that she would fail at the same time. "He's a pretty hardheaded guy, but he'll listen to what she has to say. Usually."

The dungeon filled with silence for several moments as both of its residents appeared to think rather deeply about their current situation and everything that was going on around them. Everything that happened that caused them to be there, and everything that could possibly happen in the future.

Luigi would be released soon, but could only wonder what things would be like with Daisy out of the picture. She alone brought him a certain joy he'd never felt before she made herself a part of his life. What would it be like to give that up? Without any hope that he'd be able to ever even see her again? What would it be like to be forced to just leave Daisy behind...?

"You know Luigi," Jeff suddenly spoke up, breaking the solemn silence and attracting Luigi's attention immediately. "Ever since Julie and I first met you, we knew you were gonna turn out to be someone pretty special to Daisy. I think Ilys even saw it too; she certainly started calling you 'Uncle Luigi' quickly enough."

Luigi couldn't help but let out a silent chuckle as he remembered playing with Ilys back in Toad Town. He didn't think he could have so much fun with a little four year old girl. It felt like it had been years since he'd last seen her.

"Daisy was already a pretty happy-go-lucky girl," Jeff continued, "But when she met you, it seemed like something about her changed. Somehow, you made her happier than she already was. She seemed to have more fun doing just about anything, and, whenever you weren't around, it was pretty common for her to talk about you and describe something you said or did that day that made her smile or laugh. Julie and I never thought we'd see the day she'd start doing something like that, but it was nice to see her acting all giddy like she was. And we always looked forward to having you visit us. It was beginning to feel like you were a part of the family already."

"Really?" Luigi asked, feeling quite honored to be considered a member of the family, even if it only lasted for a short while. Jeff simply nodded in response with a smile.

"Daisy obviously did a good job of picking out a boy to bring home," he continued, feeling that he knew that Daisy had good judgment enough to wait for someone that was worthy of her instead of jump into the dating world blindly. "I think she's pretty lucky to have found you. If I remember correctly, teenage boys don't exactly come in your make and model very often.

"I _am_ trying to get to a point here," Jeff informed as if reminding himself that he didn't start the subject for the sole purpose of making Luigi feel good about himself and his relationship with Daisy. "What I'm trying to say is that I don't want you to give up on her. You're a pretty rare guy Luigi, and I don't think you and Daisy should be split up because her father wants her to be with some guy he picked out for her. I've met Peasley before, and I doubt Daisy would be able to put up with him for very long without going insane."

"But what can I do?" Luigi asked meekly, his smile and overflowing joy disappearing almost immediately as the thought of the overbearing King Sarasa standing between him and Daisy invaded his mind. "Daisy's father is a king. What could I possibly do to stay with her if he made it illegal for me to even see her?"

"I'm still trying to figure that part out," Jeff admitted, bowing his head as he delved into his mind in an attempt to formulate some kind of plan for him.

Luigi began to think as well. To go against the will of a king in order to continue a relationship with his daughter... He never thought he'd find himself in a situation quite like that. But, if only one thing was clear in his mind, it was knowing that he had to follow Jeff's words. Daisy was among the most important people in his life, and, apparently, he meant just as much to her as she did to him.

Luigi knew that he couldn't allow himself to simply give up.


	23. Departure of Vigilantes and Thieves

**Cascore's Note: FINALLY! After over two months of unexpected hiatus, I finally finished the long-awaited Chapter 23! I had the hardest time figuring out how to work out this part of the story, but, oddly enough, after all this time, the last two-thirds of this whole chapter was actually written in one night. Inspiration is an odd entity. But thank you all so much for being patient with me. You have no idea how relieved I am to finally get going with this story again. But now, without further ado, I hope you enjoy.**

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**Chapter 23: "Departure of Vigilantes and Thieves"**

"Daddy, you really shouldn't be talking on your cell phone while you're driving," Mona complained from the passenger seat with a sigh as her father blazed down the road, one hand on the steering wheel of the car, the other on his cell phone.

"Calm down Mona, we'll be fine," his father assured, keeping his eyes firmly glued on the dark road before him. "The highway's straight forward and we haven't seen a car for miles." Mona promptly groaned in disapproval as the man her father was speaking with over the phone spoke up. He was on speaker so everyone in the car could hear him.

"_We can just talk more when you get here John," _the man suggested, taking Mona's worry into consideration. John was quick to insist that the phone conversation would be fine though.

"No, it's okay. Has anyone gathered at the castle yet?"

"_Not yet. It's a bit too early for that. But I know at least a few people are coming out to protest. When do you think you'll get here?"_

"About eight A.M. your time," John responded, glancing at his car's clock. It displayed the numbers "2:54", but time in the Mushroom Kingdom was two hours behind Sarasaland. He'd be arriving at the castle town in a bit over three hours.

"_Great. I think things'll liven up a bit by then."_

"How the hell are we supposed to get in the castle if it's gonna be swarmed by protesters?" Waluigi muttered almost inaudibly in the passenger side back seat as he gazed out into the darkness of the outside world whizzing by.

"We'll figure somethin' out," Wario assured him with a yawn. Waluigi had previously believed the boy to be asleep, for his eyes had been closed for the entire trip so far. Apparently though, it was simply a ruse. Wario had been keeping track of every word that had been said since the four of them entered that car a couple hours ago after hearing the surprising news of the abduction of Luigi and Daisy.

Information about the happening spread around the town like a wildfire after Toad Town's news station discovered that their "eye in the sky" Lakitu cameraman had picked up the struggle that took place between Daisy, Luigi, and their Nokobon assailants. Mona's parents caught the story on the news only moments after the orphanage's scheduled movie had come to an end. They didn't make a big fuss about it upon first seeing it to avoid alarming the children, but Mona happened upon the story as they were watching it.

"_We have breaking news from our eye in the sky; it appears that, earlier today, two teenagers were assaulted by a group of the very Nokobons I'm sure many of us have been seeing prowling around the town today,"_ the anchorwoman announced as footage of Daisy knocking aside one of the Nokobons that attempted to bring her to the ground played out. Luigi simply stood on the sidelines, his hands cuffed behind his back as he watched the scene before him playing out in shock. _"The struggle seemed spontaneous and didn't last long, but it's very evident that damage was done to the overwhelmed teenagers, as well as a third passerby who attempted to break up the fight, but received a hit of his own."_

As she spoke, Toad could be seen approaching the scene from across the street. It wasn't apparent whether or not he actually saw Luigi or Daisy, but it was obvious that he was trying to talk down the fighters without attempting to get physical himself. The footage showed him being met with a slam to his gut delivered by the shell of one of the Nokobons. All three of the observers in the orphanage winced as they saw this, but were even more shocked at what came next.

The cameraman began to zoom in his camera, and, as he did so, the sight of Daisy being blindsided from behind by a particularly powerful shell slam was openly viewable. She fell to the ground immediately and blood could be seen spattering on the ground as she made her descent. Mona and her parents couldn't help but let out a collective gasp and a quiet "Oh my God..." as the cameraman zoomed in as far as he could.

The camera followed the Nokobons as they quickly hefted the apparently unconscious Daisy into the limousine, and an utterly stunned Luigi was pushed in soon thereafter. The doors of the limo slammed shut and began to zoom off.

"_From what we can gather from the footage, we can see that the Nokobon group involved in this instance is from our neighbor, Sarasaland,"_ the anchorwoman announced to her co-anchor as the scene of the studio reappeared on the screen. _"If you look closely, you can see the silver 'S' symbol on not only the Nokobons' sunglasses, but also on the license plate of the limousine."_

"_Yes, I spotted that,"_ the co-anchor responded solemnly with a shake of his head. _"I can't help but wonder what prompted such a hostile attack on a pair of teenagers. And it's even more disturbing that law enforcement hasn't been involved in this matter in the slightest. What is the world coming to when people can be assaulted on the street and nothing is done about it?"_

What was the world coming to indeed. First, the story about that poor Toad girl from last week, and now this. It was understandable that Mona's parents were quite upset about this. Having to care for children with troubled pasts on a daily basis, the stories struck a chord with the two of them. They both immediately felt the urge to do something about the situation, but what exactly they _could_ do simply eluded them.

As disturbed as she was by the report, Mona couldn't help but focus her mind on a different matter after realizing where exactly that scene had taken place. It was near the cemetery. Right at the place where she found that cell phone on the sidewalk. She didn't notice as she watched the video, but she quickly pieced together that the phone was most likely dropped by somebody on the site during the scuffle.

Mona knew right then and there that she had to return it. She'd already felt quite apprehensive having the thing in her possession in the first place, but now, having seen that footage, she simply couldn't allow herself to hold on to it any longer.

Without a word, she left her parents and hurried to her room upstairs. Closing the door behind her as she entered, making sure to lock it just in case, she headed over to her nightstand and slung its drawer open. Sitting atop the various items contained within was the cell phone in question, and, after grabbing it and opening it, she realized that there was actually a missed call that had come in quite recently. Only a few seconds ago as a matter of fact, according to the display on the phone's screen.

Before she could see who it was that called, the phone suddenly began to vibrate. Her nerves tensed immediately as she nearly threw the thing across the room, but she managed to restrain herself and look to see who was calling.

It was Peach. Princess Toadstool. Mona's heart nearly beat right out of her chest as she contemplated answering the call.

Oh my God. It's Princess Toadstool. _The_ princess. And she's calling _this _phone. That I _found_ on the _street_, Mona thought nervously, staring down the phone as if it were going to spring to life and attack her at any moment. I can't just answer it, can I? What would I say to her?

"Hello?" Mona answered before she even realized what she was doing. Half a second couldn't pass before she started regretting her involuntary action.

What are you _doing_!? God Mona, you can't even freak out properly! How am I gonna explain-

"_Hello?"_ Peach's voice rang out from the other end, obviously confused by the unfamiliar voice that answered her. _"Daisy? Is that you?"_

Well, that answered it. The phone belonged to Princess Daisy. Who, apparently, had just gotten beaten up and kidnapped by a bunch of Nokobons. And Mona, the idiot, just strolled up minutes later and _stole her phone_.

It probably wasn't possible for her to feel like any worse of an excuse of a human being if she tried.

"...No," Mona squeaked after a few seconds of self-loathing silence. She hated herself so much at that moment, she could barely bring herself to say a single word after that. She wanted to just hang up, crawl underneath the covers of her bed, and let time slowly and cruelly carry her away to a cold, isolated death. She probably deserved it. But, in spite of herself, she soldiered on with the conversation. It wouldn't help anything if she'd simply left it at that and did nothing. At the very least, she could return the phone. And, if she couldn't take it back to Daisy directly, handing it over to a friend of hers was the next best thing she could do. "My name is Mona... I...found this cell phone on the sidewalk."

When Peach didn't say anything in response, Mona began to feel even more panicked. Her wildest of fears began to run themselves through her mind as she thought about why Peach would just grow silent like that.

She's probably gonna have me arrested, she thought, staring down toward the floor as she began to feel overwhelmed by the situation. Oh my God, she's gonna throw me in jail for this. I'm gonna spend years behind bars because I couldn't keep myself from being a 'rebel' and picking up this stupid cell phone. I didn't know it belonged to _Princess Daisy_! And I certainly didn't know she'd been beaten up just a little while before I found it! I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking! Please, you have to forgive-

"_Mona...tell me, have you heard anything about Princess Daisy of Sarasaland today?"_ Peach suddenly asked rather slowly, sounding a bit apprehensive as she spoke. _"I know it's an odd question, but please, have you heard anything of her?"_

"Yes, I have, just now," Mona answered speedily, her mouth seeming to outrun the rate at which she could even think about what she was saying. "Oh my gosh, if I'd known that that had happened to her, I would have _never_ picked up her phone, I didn't know it belonged to her, and I especially didn't know that she was assaulted like that just moments before, I was planning on returning it as soon as possible because I felt guilty about finding a stranger's phone and-"

"_Please, calm down,"_ Peach cut in calmly, though still with a hint of anxiety as her fear was confirmed. She'd hoped that news of what happened to Daisy and Luigi hadn't gotten out so quickly. Her father was already on the case, but now it seemed inevitable that, now that the townspeople were informed, there were only going to be more problems with citizens getting themselves involved in the matter. And, sure enough, as she looked out of the window of her bedroom, she could already spot a small number of townspeople gathering at the gates of the castle. This wouldn't be good.

"_Don't worry yourself about the phone. I simply ask that you return it to the castle as soon as you can. Could you do that?"_

"Of course," Mona responded simply with a sigh, calming herself down as she controlled her urge to apologize profusely. With a _"thank you"_, Peach promptly hung up, leaving Mona to hold the phone to her ear for a few additional seconds before finally removing it, closing it, and burying her forehead in the palm of her hand. Even though she wasn't in any trouble, she still felt absolutely terrible about the whole situation. All she wanted to do was be a bit more like Wario; to inject a bit more excitement and lawlessness into her very tame, safe life. And, the one time she managed to do something of any noteworthiness on her own..._this_ had to happen.

She wasn't so sure she wanted to try so hard to change herself anymore.

After taking a deep breath and tucking the phone away in her pocket, Mona exited her room and hurried back downstairs. She went into the television room to inform her parents that she was going to head out for a while, only to find her father on the phone with somebody. Her mother wasn't in the room, but her father seemed to be having quite the spirited conversation with someone about what he just saw on the news.

"I can't believe it either," John muttered into his phone rather angrily, sitting on the couch and keeping his eyes glued to the television for any further news about the situation. "Toad Town's always been a pretty peaceful place, and now, all of this violence is suddenly breaking out. And it keeps involving adults attacking teenagers. I just don't understand what's going on."

A few moments passed wherein John simply listened to whoever he was speaking to and Mona approached him silently, catching his attention, but staying quiet in respect for her father's conversation.

"Really now? Gathering at the castle?" he spoke up, interested. He waited a few more moments for his conversation partner to say their piece before he talked again. "Trying to get the king out to explain things himself huh? Well, that'd make sense. It wasn't like this last attack was an isolated event. A group from Sarasaland took the time to come over here and take them away. If something's going on between our kingdoms, the king owes it to us to let us know what's happening, and why nothing was done to prevent something like this from happening."

Mona didn't exactly need a crystal ball to see where this conversation was going. Shortly after her father hung up the phone, he looked over at her expectantly, waiting to see what she wanted to talk about. Luckily, what she had to say went along with his own new plans quite perfectly.

"Are you about to go to the castle?" she asked, receiving a nod from her father in response. "Could I come with you?"

"Sure Honey, we'll walk over together," John replied as he stood from his seat and made his way to the kitchen, the next room over, to inform his wife of his departure. Mona watched after him for a moment before heading out of the room and into the building's lobby. As she approached the front door, she noticed Wario and Waluigi coming downstairs. She smiled at the two of them and waved. Wario raised a hand in recognition, whereas Waluigi simply walked by her without so much as a glance as he and Wario headed for the kitchen. Mona was on the verge of grabbing the boy by the overalls and making him at least acknowledge her existence, but her father soon emerged onto the scene and grabbed two jackets from the coat hanger next to the door.

"Ready to go Mona?" he asked, handing her one of the jackets as she nodded in response and slipped it on. "What do you need to do at the castle anyway?" he continued casually as he and his daughter exited the building, closing the door behind them softly before walking down toward the sidewalk.

Mona wasn't entirely sure how she should answer that. The reaction she could get from her father was unpredictable, all things considered. He could be angry that she found a phone on the street and decided to keep it instead of try to figure out whose it was immediately. He could be glad that she was going to return it at that moment. He could be astonished that she'd found the phone of one princess and, using it, had a conversation with another. She didn't know what he would say, but, regardless, she told him everything that happened, and, when asked, explained what was going through her mind when she made the decisions that she did.

Honestly, though she was speaking to her father of all people about wanting to be more rebellious, more unpredictable, and just do something that was a little less than safe for once, it felt nice to finally be able to get things off her chest. Sure, she was wary of the possibility that she could very well be getting herself into trouble by telling him all this, and, judging by her father's silence, it was pretty likely that she may just get some punishment out of it, but she was thankful nonetheless.

"Now that I've actually done something though, I really can't imagine doing it again," Mona continued, coming near the end of her monologue about her internal struggles as of late. "I mean, it was pretty thrilling at first, but I just felt _so_ guilty after the fact. Even if it didn't belong to Princess Daisy, I don't think I'd have been able to keep this thing for very much longer."

Her voice finally trailed off into silence after roughly ten minutes of speaking, time throughout which her father never said a word. As she concluded herself, she almost felt as if the honest truth about how she felt guilty about the phone was more of a plea for levity than anything. She knew she wasn't just trying to butter her father up so he wouldn't be too harsh on her though. And, apparently, so did he.

"Well, I'm glad that you came to your senses," he responded. Not exactly the best way of saying that everything was okay, but better than nothing. "Can't really say I blame you. I'm pretty sure most everyone goes through a phase like that at some point in their lives."

Unexpectedly, he reached over and rubbed the top of his daughter's head with a smile, messing up her hair as she failed to refrain from smiling at the sudden gesture herself. "I'm just happy my little girl's got such a guilty conscious. At least I know you won't grow up to be a career criminal."

"Gee Daddy, thanks," Mona replied with a playful scoff, unsure of whether or not she should take that as a compliment. Nevertheless, she was happy her father was taking this so lightly. He always managed to surprise her like that it seemed. At times, he was a very no-nonsense kind of guy, doling out punishment anywhere it was rightfully deserved. And, other times, he was like this, smiling and laughing the incident off like it was nothing. It was a confusing process, if it was any kind of process at all, and Mona could only be happy that she was lucky enough to receive her father's more lighthearted side. Especially considering the situation they were currently walking right into.

It was difficult to tell what was going on in front of them. They'd reached the foot of the castle before they even realized it, but couldn't recognize the grounds at all due to the sheer mass of the angry crowd that was suddenly gathered there. It wasn't rare for there to be heavy footwork near the castle; it was the town's main attraction and visitors were openly welcome inside after all, but this mob easily outsized any number of people either Mona or her father had ever seen before.

It was impressive how quickly the entire town came to arms at the foot of the castle, united in opposition of the fell news that was delivered to them not longer than a mere thirty minutes ago. Dozens of the castle's guards had to appear on the scene in order to make sure things remained civil as the gathered citizens angrily shouted for their king to show himself and explain.

Why would he allow such a thing to happen to those innocent teenagers?

Why hadn't he done anything to prevent or counteract such a happening?

Why had Sarasaland suddenly shown such malevolent force against individuals of the Mushroom Kingdom's own capitol?

The people wanted their leader to come out and face their questions. And they would not draw back until they were satisfied with the answer.

"John! John, over here!"

Mona and her father turned in the direction of the voice immediately as they noticed a middle-aged Toad man, probably in his late forties, with light blue spots on his cap waving over at them. The two of them made their way over immediately, withdrawing around to the back side of the crowd as the Toad made his way around as well.

"Man John, can you believe this?" the Toad asked, sounding rather shocked yet excited as he gazed over at the huge crowd causing the ruckus nearby. "It looks like the entire town is out here because of what was on the news. I'm starting to worry there's gonna be an outright riot soon."

It certainly did seem that way. People shouted angrily, some occasionally pumping their fists into the air as if to demand that the king finally present himself and talk to them. A few citizens even went so far as to challenge the guards stationed at the front of the crowd, yelling at them and making attempts to push by, only to be repelled by the long handles of the guard Toads' spears. It was definitely a worrisome sight, and Mona felt incredibly apprehensive about being in the heart of the mess. Her father almost seemed to want to join in though.

"Well, if the king would just show himself," he began, though he seemed to have no intent of imparting what exactly would happen if King Toadstool actually did come out before his people. It wasn't doubtful that, no matter what explanation he tried to give, there would be no easy way to settle the anger and fear of his subjects though.

Distracted by all the activity around her, it took Mona a fair while to remember exactly why she was there in the first place. Digging in her pocket, the presence of Daisy's cell phone made itself known once more and demanded Mona to figure out just how she was going to get it delivered to Princess Peach. At the moment, it seemed simply impossible though. Even if she managed the unlikely and actually did make it all the way through to the front of the crowd, there was no way she'd be able to get past the guards.

However, the phone was quickly thrown to the back of her mind once more as the man the people demanded finally made his appearance. Coaxed out of the castle by the immense ruckus outside, and convinced by his daughter and his steward to just go out and explain, King Toadstool stepped out onto the castle's balcony, overlooking, for the first time, the incredible mass of agitated peoples that had stormed his grounds.

It was hard to discern individual shouts heading his way, but the overall tone of the voices seemed to meld into one clear message: "We're angry, and we want information. Now."

Toadstool had to admit that he wasn't prepared for this kind of situation. He'd anticipated the possibly of such an event happening in the past, but never once had the idea ever grown into an actual realization. Never had his people held so much general disdain for him, never had they jeered in his presence and so demanded, with such ferocity, to be told what was going on behind closed doors. And all it took was one incident too many to bring them to such an agitated rally.

"Everyone, please!" Toadstool spoke up with a commanding voice in an attempt to control the crowd's massive volume. Most people in the crowd took the hint and quieted down to hear just what the king had to say for himself, and it soon became a difficult, precise balancing act of explaining the situation and easing the fears of the people.

"I understand why you are all upset," he began. "The detaining of the two children, and the injury of a third who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, was a most deplorable act indeed. I can honestly tell you that I was _not_ aware of the methods used against them, nor was I aware that they were both taken away.

"I must tell you, though, that I was informed about the act of the detaining," he added, much to the crowd's chagrin. He completely understood why they would be so upset about this detail, but he began to explain immediately. "You see, the young woman that the Sarasan group retrieved is, in fact, Princess Daisy. The daughter of King Sarasa."

The crowd suddenly went into a storm of hushed whispers, not having known anything about Daisy's origin. The reaction to the news seemed to be a mixture of shock and disgust, not only from the fact that Daisy turned out to be the king's daughter, but also because of the excessively violent way in which she was subdued to be taken away. A think, a king would actually allow his underlings to treat his own daughter in such a fashion...

"This is why I did nothing to intervene in the proceedings. I was informed of the search by Sarasaland's ambassador, Kamarillo, and granted permission to find the princess and retrieve her. However," he continued, drawing his people's attention back to himself after their whisperings had come to a close, "the young man who was taken away alongside her, Luigi Segale, had nothing to do with the agreement. He is an innocent who has been forcefully and unlawfully taken away from my kingdom, without my permission. And I assure you, I will have him back home as soon as possible. He will not be forgotten."

"Oy, I say we teach them Sarasaland blokes a lesson!" one Bob-Omb individual shouted out immediately, prompting a number of the members of the crowd to agree heartily, obviously blinded by their rage toward the neighboring kingdom. "Who do they think they are, waltzin' in on our town an' harrassin' our people like that!?"

"Yeah! I don't care if they did have permission to find their princess! What they did to her and those two boys was downright despicable!" a Doogan woman chimed in as the crowd began to rile itself into a second uproar.

"We're actually allies with people who would attack their own princess and kidnap an innocent bystander!?" a third voice, this one belonging to a Toad collegiate. "It doesn't sit well with me knowing that we're partners with a nation of barbarians!"

What seemed like a decent speech that was succeeding at its task of calming the masses down quickly turned into the inspiration for the mob to simply raise its voice yet again. Only now, their anger wasn't directed so much at the king himself as it was at the land that served as his strongest ally. This had twisted out of control at an alarming pace as the crowd continued to berate Sarasaland, its people, and its ethics with more energy and more scathing criticism.

It wasn't long before Mona found her own father subtly joining in on the mob mentality, recounting a particularly negative experience he'd had with one particular Sarasan in the past to his Toad friend. Mona herself was quite scared about just what all of this protesting would escalate to in the end, and she hated to see that her father was actually jumping onto the bandwagon along with everyone else. All she wanted to do at that point was escape. Just get back to her home and drive all of this out of her mind. The negative energy surrounding her seemed to choke her with its overwhelming animosity, but, thankfully, King Toadstool finally managed to get the crowd back under control.

"Everyone, please, we cannot judge the whole of Sarasaland based merely on the actions of one isolated group," Toadstool spoke up, trying desperately to find a way to defend Sarasaland while still keeping his people calm. "What that group did is inexcusable, but we should not revert to slandering our strongest ally based solely on their actions. It was a mistake, and they will pay for it, but we cannot allow ourselves to believe that their kingdom as a whole is a foul establishment."

"If they're not so bad, why would their own princess fight against them!?" one Koopa challenged, prompting several mutters of agreement in response. He did have a bit of a point. The footage clearly showed Daisy fighting tooth and nail against the group of Nokobons. It was hard not to wonder why exactly she'd do such a thing if she was going to simply be escorted back to her home.

As the negative interaction between the crowd and King Toadstool persisted, Mona couldn't help but overhear her father's friend imparting something to John. She lent him an eavesdropping ear to see what he was talking about.

"You know my older brother that lives in Sarasaland right? Toadster?" the Toad asked, receiving a nod from John in return. "Well, according to him, the place actually seems to just be going downhill lately," he explained. "He moved over there back when Sarasa the Second and Queen Lilly were still in power. Ever since they died in the war and Sarasa the Third took over though, the place hasn't been the same. And, apparently, he heard in the news a few years ago that Princess Daisy actually left the castle after a pretty violent falling out she and her father had gotten into. It's led a lot of people to believe she was being physically abused and that's why she left, for her own safety."

"Oh my gosh..." Mona whispered under her breath, her guilt climbing to all new heights as she took in this information. It seemed like karma was coming around and treating out just desserts with force as Mona nearly teared up thinking about just what exactly Daisy had to be going through.

As Mona's spirits plunged to a low she'd never before experience, her father, infuriated by what he was just told, obtained a look of determination and sheer anger. The thought of the princess, or any child for that matter, being forced back to their home to endure a relationship with their abusive parent sent him over the edge. It was exactly the sort of thing he had to deal with day after day when it came to the children at the orphanage. And he couldn't just sit back quietly and hope for the best while Daisy was being dragged away to suffer.

"I'm going to Sarasaland," he spoke up firmly, now ignoring the crowd and their back and forth with the king. Both Mona and the Toad looked at him, shocked.

"Daddy..." Mona muttered, not entirely sure what to say. Thankfully, the Toad spoke immediately after her.

"John, don't tell me you're actually gonna-"

"I've seen this kind of thing happen so many times in the past Toadbert," John cut him off, turning to walk back toward the orphanage with a determined march. Mona and Toadbert began to follow him immediately. "Children who are forced to live in a turbulent household. The effect is the same for everyone, whether you're royalty or not. If we simply let her stay there without trying to do anything, she's not going to turn out well. She'll end up being miserable, resentful... I don't care that she's the daughter of a king, I have to try and get her out of there somehow."

"Do you even listen to yourself John!?" Toadbert asked, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. "This is royalty we're talking about here. Yeah, you're right, the effect on the princess would still be the same, but what could you possibly hope to do over there? Do you really think you're gonna be able to get her away from her father, and actually keep her away!?"

"Hell Toadbert, I don't know. I doubt it," John responded with an aggravated sigh, though he didn't slow his walk down in the slightest or show any sign of backing down. "But I'm damn sure not about to just sit around while something like this is going on. If there's _anything_ I can do, you bet your ass I'm gonna go and do it."

"Then take me with you."

Mona had taken a few hurried steps forward and remained still directly in front of her father, facing him with pleading eyes as both he and Toadbert gazed at her incredulously. Inspired by her father's bullheaded determination, however idealistic and misguided it may have been, Mona, with her watery eyes, had resolved herself to going to Sarasaland as well. Not just because she felt endlessly guilty and she wanted to return Daisy's phone, but because she wanted to try and help, in any way she possibly could. Like her father said, it was doubtful that anything could really be accomplished, but she wanted to try. She simply wanted to try.

When it was evident that Mona wasn't going to budge on her decision until her father agreed to take her, John finally gave in and granted her permission to come. Though he didn't want to get her involved in the situation at all, deep down, he couldn't deny that, at that moment, he was immensely proud of his daughter. Knowing that doing this could easily end very badly, she still stood by her moral convictions and pledged herself to doing what she felt was the right thing.

Toadbert, on the other hand, wasn't quite so moved.

"So that's it?" he asked incredulously as the group continued to walk, Mona now comfortably wrapped under the arm of her father. "You're gonna try to go to Sarasaland and retrieve the princess right from her own kingdom, _and_ you're bring your own daughter along?"

"Yes Toadbert. That's it," John answered simply, his mood having calmed after Mona's plea. He couldn't remain fired up when his daughter was on the brink of tears over everything that was going on. He had to remain calm if he hoped to help her regain her composure.

"But you do realize what you're about to walk into don't you?" Toadbert asked, beginning to tire John with his resistance.

"Yeah, it looks like a patch of grass. Seems harmless enough to me," John countered wittily as he and his daughter scaled a curb and, sure enough, they walked through a bit of grass. Toadbert let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm not joking John. You can get in some serious trouble if you do this!"

"Really? Hey, Mona, did you know we could get in trouble for trying to take a princess away from a castle?" John asked with a sickeningly sarcastic voice, receiving a simple giggle from his daughter in response as Toadbert groaned yet again. Before the Toad could get out another word though, John turned his head over to him and adopted a slightly more serious tone. "Toadbert, we know what we're getting ourselves into."

"And you _still_ wanna go!?"

"There are some things you just gotta do," John replied simply, looking forward once more. "There are consequences, and there are rewards. Among the rewards is knowing that, at the very least, you tried. Even if we fail in the end, knowing that we tried will be enough."

Even though it was obvious that Toadbert still disagreed with John's decision, he finally quieted down. There would be no deterring John and his daughter as they finally reached the orphanage and headed up for the door. He dearly wished that there was something he could do to keep them from carrying out their decision, but, knowing there was no way they'd turn back now, he figured, at the very least, he could let them know that he would wish them the best.

"Just be careful out there, okay?" he asked, the fire absent from his voice as he looked at John and Mona for what felt like the last time. "You're one of my best friends John. I don't want to see anything happen to you or Mona."

At this, John removed his arm from Mona's shoulders and knelt down to give Toadbert a pat on the shoulder and a warm smile. "Thank you."

It wasn't long before Mona found the two men sharing a brotherly hug, saying goodbye to each other as Toadbert obviously strained to lock a few tears away from his eyes. With a couple pats on the back, they released each other and John stood once again.

"If you need a place to stay out there, just give my brother a call," Toadbert advised. "I'm sure he'll be happy to keep you two if you're going to be there for a while."

"Will do," John replied just before Toadbert took a step back. Suddenly feeling slightly awkward, the Toad gave a small nod before lifting up a hand.

"Well...good luck out there then," he imparted, obviously still wishing that the two of them would change their minds and just stay. He soon turned away though and headed off back into the town. John and Mona both watched him for a while before turning to each other. They had smiles on their faces, though Mona's eyes were still threatening to overflow while John had a look that gave away his own uncertainty about their decision. They were both obviously nervous, but they couldn't just back down now. They'd committed themselves to doing this. And they were going to follow through.

"Well, I have no idea how Mom's gonna react to this," John spoke up lightheartedly, prompting a chuckle from his daughter. Yes, her mom was certainly going to put up a fight against this. A much bigger one than Toadbert just did. "But...are you absolutely sure you want to do this Mona?"

"Yes Daddy," she answered, her voice sounding a bit weak, though it was obviously convicted to the task. "And don't ask me anymore okay? You're making me nervous," she added with a weak chuckle, causing her father to smile even wider and rub the back of his neck.

"I'm more nervous about what your mom's gonna do to me when I tell her about this. But, while I'm talking to her, you go and pack some clothes. I don't know how long we'll be over there, so we should be prepared."

Mona nodded, and, with a brief sigh, John opened up the front door and allowed her inside first. The ruckus and the intoxicating aroma of cooking food met the two of them as they entered. Dinner would be starting in just a little while.

John immediately headed over to the kitchen to speak with his wife. It probably wasn't the most opportune time to give her such news, while she had to focus on cooking a large dinner, but, if he waited, he wouldn't be able to get a spare moment with her alone before it was quite late. And imparting the news in front of all the children during dinner or during the after-dinner movie would simply not be a good idea.

Meanwhile, Mona had made her way to her bedroom and began to pack away her belongings at a lethargic pace. Shirts, jeans, her diary, that pair of earrings she's had since she was six, a picture of her as a toddler, smiling with her parents in front of the newly bought orphanage...

Why was she packing those things? Her old earrings? That photo? These things that would really be of no use to her over in Sarasaland. These things that, by now, she'd taken for granted and, honestly, began to completely forget about. Why was she choosing to take such sentimental items with her? And...why was she suddenly feeling like things were going to be so different now? Like she was never going to return to Toad Town, or the orphanage, or her own room. It wasn't guaranteed that things would end in the worst possible way...

So why was she so scared?

The sight of Mona in the side of his eye stopped Waluigi in his tracks as he and Wario walked by the open door of her room. Both of the boys backed up a little bit and gazed inside at the girl as she cried, slumped over on the floor in front of her half-filled suitcase.

The boys looked at each other briefly before deciding to step inside and see what was going on with her.

"What's up with you?" Wario asked, surprising Mona a fair bit as she jumped slightly and looked up at the two boys, tears streaming down her cheeks. She immediately looked away from them and attempted to wipe the streams away as quickly as she could.

"It's...It's nothing," she stuttered, though she obviously wasn't fooling either of them with the weak answer. When it was apparent that neither of the boys were going to leave her alone until she coughed up some information though, she appeared to think rather deeply about the entire situation. And, after several moments, she finally spoke up.

"Daddy and I are going to Sarasaland," she began sniffling a bit as she tried her hardest not to let tears overcome her again. "That Daisy girl you two have been following around was taken back there by force, and Daddy and I are going to try and bring her back... But...I just don't know what's gonna happen when we get there."

"So, what, the princess was kidnapped and now you're gonna go kidnap her back?" Waluigi asked bluntly before folding his arms. Honestly, Mona hadn't thought of the idea that way, but, now that she reflected on it, Waluigi was right. She and her father were going to go and kidnap the princess...

"Basically," Mona muttered.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Waluigi asked, obviously not bothering to show any sympathy for Mona or her situation at all. "She's the freakin' princess of Sarasaland. Who cares if she's not here anymore?"

"But her father abuses her Waluigi!" Mona spoke up, a bit of strength gathering in her voice as she stood up and stared at Waluigi with fire in her eyes. "Didn't you see the news story at all? She was taken back only after she was knocked out by those Nokobon guys that took her. And the only reason she even came to Toad Town in the first place was because her father physically abuses her! Do you think I could hear something like that, having been raised in an _orphanage_, and just say 'Oh, whatever, it doesn't have anything to do with me, so why should I bother?' That's just not something I can do."

Without warning, Mona suddenly threw herself forward toward Waluigi and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest before either of the boys could figure out what was going on. She was crying again, harder than she was before, drenching Waluigi's shirt as worries of the possible consequences of her decision and thoughts of Daisy being forced to endure her situation overwhelmed her.

"I'm just scared Bro," she muttered into Waluigi's chest as the boy winced at the sound of the affectionate nickname. "I'm scared about what might happen to me and Daddy, but I'm scared for Princess Daisy too. I want to help her so much, but...I'm just so scared..."

Wario and Waluigi looked at each other again, surprised by the sudden outburst of emotion from Mona. This was the same goody-goody, happy-go-lucky girl who never let anything get her down, no matter what it might be. And now, she was crying. She was completely vulnerable, letting tears stream down her face freely. And, really, Waluigi never expected to see anything like this from her.

This was Mona.

This was little Miss Sunshine.

She wasn't supposed to cry. There was no such thing as a crying Mona. There was "Look-On-The-Bright-Side Mona", and there was "Everything-Will-Work-Out Mona", but "Bawling, Fearful, Uncertain Mona"? That girl wasn't supposed to exist.

Before Waluigi knew what he was doing, his arms slowly began to enclose around the crying girl. The crying girl who, before this moment in time, he made of point despising. The crying girl who had grown to love him as if he were her older brother, and who he, though he would never openly admit it, had taken to think of as a younger sister. The crying girl who, at that moment, came to him to lean on, and made him feel like, for once in his life, he was actually being of real help to someone.

Waluigi felt that he never had anyone at his side as he made his lonely trek through life. But, as he stood there, holding this crying girl in his arms, who clung to him even tighter now and buried her face deeper into his chest as she let her emotions flow, he finally seemed to actually realize. He had someone who could smile and laugh when she wanted to, and who could break down and cry when she needed to. He had someone who came to him for support, even when said support was often delivered in a mask of hostility, and he had someone that actually not only respected him, but wanted desperately to be an important part of his life. And it took one vulnerable moment, where she needed him the most, to make him realize that there was really someone else there, willingly traveling at his side through the lifelong journey.

And so, Waluigi stood there, in a position that he never believed he'd actually find himself in. Voluntarily hugging Mona as she cried into his chest. It felt slightly awkward at first, but, at the same time, he could feel as if his heart were lifting ever so slightly. The thought of being a comforting pillar of warmth for someone was one that never before crossed his mind as something even remotely desirable. But now, he'd only wished that Mona had some kind of mental breakdown earlier.

As he regained his bearings and remembered that he was acting drastically out of character though, he glanced over at Wario, who simply smirked at him, obviously amused by the sudden change in Waluigi's demeanor. The lanky boy in purple simply rolled his eyes and proceeded to pretend that he wasn't happy to give Mona the hug, though he continued to hold her until she finally spoke up again some time later.

"Will you two come with me?" she asked quietly once she found her voice, surprising both of of the boys with the sudden question. They both remained quiet for a while as they thought about it, and Wario was the first to speak, presenting a simple question.

"Why?" he asked. "You got your dad right?"

"Yeah but...I just want you two to be there with me," she responded, knowing she was being incredibly selfish. "I mean, if you don't want to, I'll understand..."

"If we come, what's in it for us?" Waluigi asked, reverting back to his indifferent personality briefly as Mona reared back her head and looked up at him. Surprisingly, she shed a weak smile for him.

"Don't you ever want to help just for the sake of helping?" she asked jokingly, obviously poking fun at the fact that Waluigi was still holding her, even though he wasn't getting any kind of reward out of it in return other than a feeling that he eased Mona's emotions. He disregarded that fact completely though.

"If I'm gettin' paid for it, sure," he answered sarcastically. Mona giggled. Waluigi actually made a joke. Now _that_ was rare.

Mona released Waluigi, cuing him to release her as well, and she took a step back. Her face was relatively dry now, the majority of her tears now residing on Waluigi's shirt. "Well, we're going to a castle after all," she began to reason. "There has to be all sorts of valuables in there right?"

She need say no more, for Wario was instantly sold on the idea. If they were planning to get into the castle at all, there would obviously be all sorts of expensive stuff all over the place. They could get tens of thousands of coins out of this venture if things went well.

Thinking solely of the motorcycle he'd finally be able to afford after the mission was carried out, Wario ran out of the room instantly and began to pack his stuff. Mona and Waluigi watched him leave in earnest, and silently agreed that Wario was certainly on board with the idea. And, again silently, Waluigi figured he may as well come along too. It sounded a lot more exciting than sitting around at the orphanage after all.

He began to leave the room, only to be stop by Mona just as he was halfway out the door.

"Waluigi," she spoke up, halting the boy and causing him to turn back around to give her his attention, yet another action he'd rarely actually done in the past. "Thank you," Mona said simply, the smile on her face persisting.

Waluigi simply looked at her for a moment before turning away and walking down the hall. If she was expecting "You're welcome", she wasn't getting it. Waluigi had already performed several firsts that day. Adding another was just overkill.

She didn't need one though. Waluigi had already spoken volumes to her, and she was grateful nonetheless.

And so, hours later, after dinner, isolated spats between Mona's parents over the decision to go to Sarasaland, Mona convincing her father to let Wario and Waluigi join them, and an hour of alone time for the parents, the four vigilantes set out at midnight on their journey to rescue Princess Daisy and Luigi. And now, they were practically flying across the empty highway at two forty-five in the morning, John speaking with Toadster over speaker phone as Mona complained at her father for focusing on his cell phone and driving at the same time.

The lively conversation between the car-mates and their cell phone companion would soon be cut short however as John suddenly swerved into the opposite lane, narrowly avoiding what looked like a dead animal lying in the middle of the road.

Stunned and curious about what they just saw, the car was turned around pulled over to the opposite side of the road from where the lying heap rested.

Asking for his flashlight from the back seat, which was handed to him by a now fully awakened Wario, John stepped out of the car to see just what it was that he narrowly avoided moments earlier. And, to his great surprise, he found that the object he was observing was not an object at all, but, rather, a body. A purple shell covered its back, and short, straight black hair drooped to the pavement as it laid there face-down.

John was almost convinced that it was dead, but, startling him, its right arm moved ever so slightly as a weak whisper escaped from its lips.

"...Your Highness..."

It was Lakilulu.

* * *

**Footnote: Argh, cliffhanger! I'll try not to make you wait two months for this one!**


	24. Rainy Day

**Cascore's Note: Okay, first of all, sorry for taking another two months to come up with an update. x.x I seem to buzz in and out of the writing spirit a lot these days, and, when I do get the spirit, I find myself plugging away at things that _aren't _this story. ._. Again, my apologies. This chapter felt like it was a lot longer than it actually is while I was typing it. Probably because I was working on it over the course of two months, but I genuinely believed it was at least a little longer. It was really difficult to figure out how I wanted to write this chapter, what with all the things I'm trying to get across at once at this point. I'm pleased with how it turned out at least. For the most part. I just can't get over how short it is really. I mean, after two months, you'd think it'd be longer. But I do hope you enjoy it anyway. And I _swear_ I will try my hardest to come up with the next chapter at a faster pace.**

* * *

**Chapter 24: "Rainy Day"**

Lakilulu would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous as she floated through the hallway that night. She was approaching King Sarasa on behalf of the very commoner he was making a point of keeping away from his daughter after all. For the duration of her journey between the dungeon and the throne room, she'd been scrutinizing every single word that would make up the entirety her appeal, but still, it was highly unlikely Sarasa would even give the plea a moment of consideration.

She simply had to hope for the best.

"Lakilulu."

A voice suddenly spoke up behind her. A somewhat high-pitched one, but distinctly masculine in its tone. Lakilulu stopped, only a few dozen feet away from the entrance to Sarasa's throne room, and turned to see Kamarillo approaching her, a rather solemn expression on his face.

"I would advise against holding an audience with His Highness at present," he warned, causing Lakilulu to give him an inquisitive gaze. "He is less than agreeable in his current state of mind."

In all fairness, King Sarasa was less than agreeable in any state of mind. Lakilulu had already taken this into consideration before she resolved herself to meeting with him. Still, what could have taken place to bring the king into such a mood that the nation's ambassador, and therefore one of Sarasa's closest associates, was advising against seeing him?

"Oh, you do not know?" Kamarillo asked, an odd tone of false surprise in his voice as he began to move closer to Lakilulu, making her feel suddenly uncomfortable as he slowly closed the gap between them one step at a time. "That is a surprise to hear, considering you were in the vicinity of the one who brought the king into such a foul mood only moments ago."

"Do you speak of the commoner?" Lakilulu asked, secretly wondering how exactly he seemed to know where she was just minutes ago. Could he have been following her this whole time?

"Not so much the commoner as the man who turned his back on his own kingdom," Kamarillo answered, suddenly turning away from Lakilulu, looking behind himself and down the hallway, in the general direction of the dungeon. "Did you not see him? Your prince who fled and left our king to fend for himself? I am surprised, you seem to be close with the man. Yet you did not even notice him cowering away in the corner of the cell across from the commoner.

"By the way, I do not believe it was the wisest of ideas to fill the boy with false hope of seeing the princess again," Kamarillo added, now turning back to Lakilulu as she simply stared at Kamarillo in relative shock. She wondered if he was talking about Prince Juno, whom she honestly hadn't known was even in the castle at all. But, at the same time, she was questioning just what exactly Kamarillo's motive was. He was evidently following her; how else would he know about what she said to Luigi? And, if he was keeping track of her, why? "Optimism can only get one so far Lakilulu," Kamarillo continued, "Before reality rears its ugly, honest head and crushes one's spirits. Why raise them in the first place when it is so unlikely that things will turn out how we wish?"

"The commoner is an innocent young man," Lakilulu countered, growing defensive as she felt herself becoming pressured by the ambassador's suddenly antagonistic character. "He has a genuinely kind heart, and I believe King Sarasa will-"

"Kind hearts are only destined to bleed, Lakilulu. I am astounded by your short-sightedness, considering you should know better about the subject than most," Kamarillo spat back, though a particularly sinister smile seemed to be coming to his lips now. Lakilulu floated back a few feet, growing more uncomfortable by the second as Kamarillo seemed to show a side of himself he'd hidden away for the years she'd known him. Ever since he secured his position in the castle as ambassador three years ago, Lakilulu's only ever seen the quiet, cordial, bookish side of him that kept mostly to himself and spoke with the utmost of kindness when approached. This Kamarillo that stood before her now though... He seemed to be a completely different Magikoopa altogether.

"You aim to please all, while knowing full well that it is not possible," Kamarillo continued. "To serve a king, who would have you serve against a prince, a princess, and a commoner. And to serve a prince, a princess, and a commoner, who would have you serve against a king. It cannot work on all avenues Lakilulu. You cannot be these peoples' medium through which everyone's wishes are granted. You have known that all along. And yet, you continue to attempt to be 'kind' and 'fair' toward everyone.

"Well, may I say that you have overextended yourself. Our king is not as oblivious as you predicted. Nor am I."

At some point, without Lakilulu's notice, Sarasa had made his way out of his throne room. He stood a fair distance behind the confused, anxious Lakitu as Kamarillo spun around on the spot and disappeared into thin air. Lakilulu was used to his ability to teleport at will, but did not expect him to reappear just behind her. Right next to the previously silent king of Sarasaland.

"Your Majesty," Lakilulu quickly greeted, bowing her head in recognition of her superior, who simply watched her in silence. A certain calmness seemed to rest in his eye. Almost a look of melancholy really as he gazed at his old steward. The only one in the entire castle to have stayed by his side ever since the day he was brought into the world. The one living being in the entire world to stay wholly faithful to him, through the good times and the bad, without question.

Well, at least, until now...

"Lakilulu. Does Kamarillo speak the truth?" he asked quietly, almost with a hint of melancholy, as Lakilulu raised her eyes once more. Both her and her cloud seemed to have a pleading looking in their eyes as they gazed at him.

"Your Highness, I-..." Her heart suddenly began to race as she came to a complete loss for words. All that time thinking, planning every single syllable of her speech, was for naught as she simply floated there, utterly intimidated by the somber mood of her superior and the sinister gaze of her peer. In silence, the two of them seemed to penetrate the very fabric of her being and rip it to shreds. She became devoid of words. Devoid of motion. Devoid of any kind of thought, stricken in the fear of what she knew would soon be her fate.

The king bowed his head slightly before turning away from the Lakitu. Her silence was all he needed to hear to understand that even she was no longer worthy of his full, complete trust. Even she, the one to stay by his side for so many years past, was abandoning him.

Well... So be it.

"Then you may go," he spoke up, his words alone forcing Lakilulu to recoil as if she'd taken a hit straight to the chest. And, without another word, King Sarasa made for his departure. Lakilulu, stupefied, simply floated there for a moment, watching him in silence, before realizing she couldn't just let him leave like this. She couldn't-

"Ah ah ah, dearest Lakilulu," Kamarillo mocked, having teleporting right in front of the Lakitu after she made an attempt to follow the king. He held his wand up to her, a wicked smile carved across his lips. "So sorry, but it appears that you are no longer welcome here. Shall I escort you out?"

"Kamarillo, please-ah! ...ack...!"

Lakilulu clutched her neck in panic as she floated back from Kamarillo. Her cloud barely grazed the floor as she struggled to stay aloft... Her throat... She was choking... She...couldn't breathe...

"Please Lakilulu, allow me to escort you...to the gates of the Underwhere..."

Lakilulu had fallen out of her cloud by now, struggling on the floor as the world all around her faded away into nothingness. She could barely hold herself up with one arm, the other clutching her throat in vain as she desperately tried to intake the breath that would never come into her reach.

Soon, a pair of red leather shoes came into her fading view. She attempted to look up, but her waning strength only caused her to slump to the ground, helpless.

"Have no fear Lakilulu," Kamarillo's sinister voice echoed throughout as the Lakitu's vision blurred ever more. "You do not die in vain tonight. You have played your part quite exquisitely. And for that, I thank you. It will not be much longer before your involvement pays off yet.

"But for now, do not struggle... Do not fight... Rather, embrace the coming of your death... Embrace your Afterlife..."

…

Darkness...

Lakilulu heard no more...

–

"...will she be alright...?"

A young woman's voice... Unfamiliar... Filled with genuine concern...

"...let's hope so...she seems to be breathing normally..."

A man's voice... Also unfamiliar... Kind...

"...wish I could tell you what happened...we just found her in the middle of the road..."

Another man's voice... Not familiar... Somewhat frustrated...

Where was she hearing these voices all of a sudden...?

She stirred. Everyone's attention suddenly shot to her as she tried her hardest to move any part of her body.

She was so stiff. Performing an action as minute as twitching a single finger felt like an enormous task. She wanted so badly to move, but, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't fight the refusal of her own body to even budge. All she felt she could do was let out a quiet, weak groan, and crack open her eyes just the tiniest bit, which were only snapped shut once more by the blinding rush of light that met them. But that one movement, accompanied with her groan, was enough. The room was awash with relief to know that, finally, the stranded Lakitu woman had awakened. The majority of the fears were finally eased.

"Thank God you're okay," the girl spoke up once again, letting out a sigh as she did so.

"...Mmm..."

"Please, don't try to talk," the first man's voice spoke up softly. "Just rest for the time being."

Lakitu paid him mind and simply allowed herself to just lie still. She felt absolutely drained. Like she could just fall asleep and stay inanimate for days. Right now though, she knew she could only be thankful. Kamarillo's attempt to kill her had failed. But, apparently, he'd teleported her far outside of the castle once he believed she was done for. The last thing she remembered before waking up in that bed was seeing several lights, followed by the sound of a slamming door and the feeling of someone picking her up. After that...she'd appeared here. In this room. Surrounded by three people, watching over her carefully.

She could only be thankful.

As the room fell silent, sans the pitter patter of the steady, light rain on the roof and windows outside, Lakilulu could hear something else. A soft, whirring sound. That sound was very familiar to her. Very familiar indeed.

Apparently, her cloud, though not having been teleported alongside Lakilulu, had reunited with her. Such an occurrence was odd for a Lakitu's cloud, for it to follow its owner after said owner had left it, but Lakilulu knew that it could be the only plausible reason why it was at her side. Probably still carrying that worried expression. Waiting for her to get well and occupy it once more.

Unfortunately, the cloud would have to wait.

"Well, it's half past eight," the first man's voice informed. "What are you all gonna do?"

"...I honestly don't know yet," the second man's voice answered reluctantly. "I see a few people rallying up at the gate already. Some guards are outside keeping them back. I have no clue how we're supposed to get inside."

"Leave it to your father to drive to a different country overnight and not have any idea what he's going to do once he gets there," the first voice commented with a chuckle, prompted a giggle from the girl.

"That's Daddy for you."

"Ah hush," the second man piped up. "I'm trying to think..."

–

Luigi just sat there on the hard slab of rock that was supposed to be a bed. He leaned back against the wall as one foot lay outstretched before him and the other dangled motionless off the side of the bed. His head was propped back against the wall so he could stare up at the ceiling. There was nothing of particular interest up there, but, having his head tilted back like that...it just somehow made him feel at peace.

Sitting there. Staring at nothing. One foot suspended inches off the floor beneath. It was a position that he found most comfortable for some reason.

It was odd, this feeling of serenity. Suddenly, somewhere between the worlds of conscious and unconscious, it just felt like everything that was going so horribly wrong...just wasn't as big a deal anymore. And Luigi didn't know whether this pleasant feeling was a side effect of the lack of sleep he'd endured last night, or if this was just slow, silent acceptance.

The acceptance that Lakilulu had never returned last night. The acceptance that Luigi was never going to get to talk to Daisy ever again. That acceptance that he would never so much as get to see her again. The acceptance that, once he was released from that cell, he would just go back to the way things were.

Back when he was that socially awkward kid in the group that was only good for a laugh or two. Back when he was always taken for granted by his friends and his family alike. Back when, no matter what he did or how hard he tried, he just knew things weren't going to turn out right.

Everything would just be the same, day after day, all over again. The way it all was before.

There was a brief moment where the silence was broken as a guard from upstairs hurried down to retrieve the dungeon guard. After a short dialogue, the two left in a hurry. And Luigi, in silence, continued to simply stare at the ceiling.

–

Huh. Rain. Talk about a rare sight. It almost never rained here.

Wait. What was she thinking? This was the Chai Kingdom of Sarasaland...rain wasn't that uncommon here. It was Toad Town where it never rained...

That's right... Toad Town...

No, it rained much more often around here. And, usually, she adored it. The sight of it. The smell. The feeling of joy and freedom she felt whenever she was outside, able to be in the rain. Even just looking at it would set her at ease. It's gentle tapping could do nothing less than completely soothe her mind and her soul.

So, why was it different today?

Today, it did not bring her joy. Today, it did not soothe her. Today, it just had no effect on her whatsoever.

Even though she wanted it to. She really, honestly did.

Her gaze was distant as she stood there, both hands resting on the bedroom's window sill before her. She didn't seem to focus on much of anything. Not the rain. Or the oddly large mass of people in front of the castle. The confrontation between the royal guards and the enraged townspeople did not catch her interest at all.

Really, at that moment, nothing did.

Across the room, the door gave off a noticeable click. A noise to which Daisy paid no mind. It opened, swept across the bedroom carpet, followed by the soft sound of a pair of feet stepping in, just before the door was shut.

Still, Daisy stared out the window.

"Daisy. You should not be out of bed so soon," the familiar, deep voice spoke up. "Your injury is still fresh. It would not do for you to strain yourself so quickly."

Daisy bowed her head. Just hearing that man's voice. Just listening to that man speak. It burned. A deep, rousing flame she could feel in the pit of her stomach. It flared. It threatened to burst forth. It took everything she had to not turn around and exact her fury against that man right then and there.

Her resting hands slowly balled into tight fists. She wanted to. So badly, she wanted to...just hit him. Over and over and over again. Until her knuckles were bleeding and her energy was completely drained. She wanted to attack him.

Slowly, she lowered her hands to her sides.

She couldn't. She knew she couldn't. She couldn't attack that man. Even if she was stronger than him, doing such a thing would not change her situation. That man had power. Absolute power. And nothing she did would change anything.

That man would still force her to stay in that castle. He would still force her to conform and be molded into the image he wanted her to be. He would still have complete control over her life. He always did. He'd simply allowed Daisy's leash to loosen until he decided that he needed to pull her back once again.

Daisy couldn't fight him. In the end, he would win. He would always win.

"I apologize. Father."

She was mechanical. Both in her voice and in her movements. She turned away from the window and stepped over to the side of her bed. As Daisy climbed in and pulled the covers over herself, her father made his way across the room and took up the recently abandoned spot next to the window. He stared down at the crowd with a frown.

"All of this. Over the misconduct of my incompetent subordinates," he muttered disdainfully. "I would do well to reconstruct my staff if this is the result of their carelessness. To think, the actions of those fools I sent to retrieve you would cause this much of a disturbance..."

Sarasa took a few more moments to look at the heavens' falling filth before grabbing on the tassel suspended from the curtain next to him. He pulled the veil closed.

Just as mechanically as his daughter, Sarasa turned and stepped over to the foot of Daisy's bed. He came to a slow stop once he reached his destination, and began to speak once more without looking over at his daughter.

"King Toadstool is on his way here currently," he informed. Daisy sat up against the headboard of her bed, simply gazing at him. "He is coming to retrieve your boy."

He paused.

Daisy remained silent, giving no indication of any kind of interest.

"I suppose I should tell you, though I doubt it will matter much in the near future, but I have forbade the boy to rest his eyes upon you," he spoke up. "He is never to see you. And you are never to see him."

Daisy gave no response. Sarasa couldn't help but give off a small smile as he turned his look over to his daughter. She stared right back into his eyes. Blankly.

"Does this not concern you?" he asked.

"Why should it?" Daisy responded with a deadpan voice. "He's just a boy. An unfortunate boy that got himself wrapped up in this mess unknowingly. He hasn't done anything wrong. Except have feelings for a princess."

"So, you do not care if you may never see him again?" Sarasa asked, somewhat surprised by his daughter's demeanor, but undoubtedly joyous about her extreme cooperativeness.

"I don't see why I should," Daisy answered. "If I said I _did_ care...would that change anything at all?"

Sarasa recoiled the slightest bit. The way his daughter was speaking... She was certainly more cooperative now, but...why? Was this the result of the concussion she'd suffered at the mercy of the Nokobon force? Or did she finally submit herself to her father's will and decide that he truly knew what was best for her? It was perplexing, but Sarasa couldn't deny that it was most definitely a boon to finally have his daughter understand that he was holding the reigns over the entire situation.

"No. Your disagreement would not change the situation whatsoever," Sarasa responded, looking away from his daughter once again. "I am glad you finally realize, Daisy. Resisting will only bring you more hardships. Allow me to take care of you. I am your father. I know what is best for you. And for the future of our kingdom. You must simply place your trust in me. And everything will be much easier, for the both of us."

Daisy never responded. Instead, a moment of shuffling could be heard from the bed. Sarasa looked over once more to find that his daughter had lied down and sunk further into her covers. Her head rested on its side on the pillow, here eyes closed comfortably below the ring of bandaging that wrapped around the top of her head to cover her wound. She wanted to rest. Or, perhaps, simply to think. Either way, Sarasa made his exit wordlessly.

The door clicked open, slid quietly along the carpeting, and shut once more.


	25. Taking Action

**Cascore's Note: Yes, I'm still alive everyone! I'm so, SO sorry for taking so long to post an update. Not only did I hit a huge bout of writer's block that lasted for quite some time, but I've been very busy with being in college and plays that are put on there, and, on top of that, I haven't had an Internet connection from my apartment for the past half year. x.x But anyway, I hope this chapter is worth the long wait. Reading it over, I feel like it's a lot different from the others, and I don't know if that's for better or worse. Either way, I truly hope you enjoy it. As for the next chapter, I've already started it, but no more making promises about exactly when I'll be making an update. It'll just come along as it does. I _will_ finish this story though, sooner or later, haha. But enough gabbing. Enjoy the read!**

* * *

**Chapter 25: "Taking Action"**

"Sarasa...what are you doing?"

Prince Peasley stood alone on the balcony behind his bedroom. The morning set before him was absolutely beautiful. It had rained again the previous night, and now a light mist hung in the air, veiling the blend of popping autumn colors amongst the trees ever so slightly and shrouding the grounds in a sort of attractive mystery. It was the time of morning that Peasley loved to just rest and observe in order to begin his day and organize his thoughts. However, he simply could not enjoy it. Not while learning of what was taking place in his neighboring kingdoms.

The castle received bimonthly reports regarding the affairs of Sarasaland, the Mushroom Kingdom, and the Darklands. On this morning, Peasley was the first to pick up and comb over the papers, for his mother and Lady Lima had busied themselves with addressing a plumbing problem in the basement of the castle. Typically, and thankfully, these reports had little to impart and basically informed that all three kingdoms were calm and peaceful. And if there ever was a negative report, it usually concerned the Darklands, but the kingdom never posed a real threat to the serenity of the other three nations. And that's why it was all the more shocking when Peasley received reports from both the Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasaland that were lengthier than usual, and anything but positive.

Peasley couldn't help but sigh and shake his head multiple times as he read through the news. What was Sarasa thinking? Sending in a convoy of Nokobons to forcibly detain the princess and an innocent young man... Peasley didn't know if Sarasa ordered them to resort to violence if necessary, but did he honestly believe he could get away with something like that without attracting any attention? And now, because of his decision to bring Daisy back, the people of the Mushroom Kingdom were ready to wage war and Sarasaland was already beginning to turn against its own king? How in the world did Sarasa manage to cause this much civil unrest in one fell swoop, and over the course of a single day? It was astonishing to think about just how quickly everything changed in the two previously peaceful kingdoms.

Now, Peasley had to decide how best to handle the situation himself. At an outset, it would seem that the rising turmoil had little, if nothing at all, to do with him or the Beanbean Kingdom, but he had the insight to realize that he was a fairly big part of why there was a problem. The reports went into immense detail concerning Princess Daisy and this commoner boy, Luigi, and their relationship with one another. It would appear that Daisy harbored deep, intimate feelings for Luigi, and, as a result, Sarasa found the boy to be a threat to his ultimate goal: ensuring that his daughter married Prince Peasley. And so, to prevent the possibility of the relationship between the two growing even stronger, he retrieved both of them and proceeded to send Luigi to the castle dungeon, declaring him a threat to Sarasaland and keeping him captive until he was to be returned to the Mushroom Kingdom.

As he read this, Peasley couldn't help but wonder why Sarasa couldn't just take Daisy alone. What was the purpose of stealing away Luigi if all Sarasa wanted to do was separate Daisy from the boy? It was a perplexing question to say the least... Peasley would have to ask the king himself when he arrived in Sarasaland.

–

Waluigi stared out of a window in the living room of Toadster's home. The dreary morning didn't do much for his already sour mood.

What the hell did John plan to do? It had already been an hour and still, the only thing to have even been decided upon was getting medicine for the Lakitu they found on the road. And that didn't seem to do the woman much good, for she still laid there in her bed motionless and never talked.

Right now, everyone besides Lakilulu and Waluigi was gathered around the dining room table, having some breakfast. Nobody seemed to realize that they were pretty hungry after the overnight expedition and figured filling themselves up would help give them energy and get ideas going. Whatever. What they were doing was nothing more than continuing to waste time. If they waited around very much longer, chances were they would never be able to get into the castle. Especially with that crowd growing in front of the main gate to the place.

"Hey, Waluigi, come and have some food," Mona said, having gotten from the table to invite the boy over. "Toadster made some really good-"

"I'm not hungry." Without another word, Waluigi headed down the nearby hallway and into the bedroom where the Lakitu woman was rested. Mona watched him and heard him close the door behind himself. She let out a small sigh before turning back and rejoining everyone else at the table.

In actuality, Waluigi meant to head for the bathroom, not the bedroom, but it was all the same to him. He just wanted to get away from that group of people eating away time out there, find some place to be in silence and think. If they weren't going to take any time to make an actual plan, he would come up with one himself.

He took a seat by the door. The floating cloud next to the Lakitu's bed didn't acknowledge his presence, still staring at its owner. Waluigi looked at it for a moment, then at the woman in the bed. After a moment, he stood back up and looked out the room's window, granting him a view of the castle gate once again.

"Is someone in here?" Lakilulu whispered. Waluigi looked at her over his shoulder, then back out the window.

"Yeah," he answered.

"I heard earlier...if I remember correctly, someone was...talking about getting into the castle?"

Waluigi's eyes widened slightly and he turned back around to face Lakilulu. He stepped closer to her. "Yeah. What about it?"

"What business do you have...in the castle?"

Waluigi paused for a moment. He had a couple reasons to break into the castle, but he didn't know exactly what affiliation this woman had with the place. It was merely a matter of choosing the correct answer. "We're here to get the princess and her boyfriend out of the castle."

The Lakitu suddenly tried to move, but fell motionless immediately.

"I know a secret passage that leads to the...underground dungeon of the castle." Waluigi came up to her bed side, waiting for her to divulge more details. The Lakitu took a moment to breathe though. Talking felt like the most difficult thing she ever had to do. "Just outside the gate...on the east side, there is a pond. On the edge of the pond nearest the gate, there is a runoff of water...and behind it is a small passage hidden behind a thin wall." She paused again, taking another moment to catch her breath. Waluigi waited patiently for her to continue. "The passage leads to a cave...in which there is a trap door. Take that door, and you will find another path leading to...the castle dungeon. The commoner boy is in there...as well as the prince of Sarasaland. Please...help them both. They have done nothing wrong. The princess is on the third floor of the castle... Her's is the only room in the west wing on that floor. Get her out of there, please... I realize I am placing a lot of trust in you, but, I beg you...do what I could not. Help them."

With that, Lakilulu began to breathe roughly for a few seconds before she finally calmed and went back to rest peacefully. Meanwhile, Waluigi chose not to waste anymore time. Immediately, he was out of the room and making his way for the front door.

Everyone at the dining room table heard the door open and close very quickly, and Mona was the first to get up and go see what happened. Obviously, nobody had come in, but as she looked out the window and discovered Waluigi walking toward the castle, she couldn't help but wonder what he was getting up to. She swiftly opened up the front door and called after him.

"Waluigi! Waluigi!"

He didn't stop or look back. Mona stepped out, closed the door behind herself, and rushed after him. She ran up to his side and kept up with his swift walk.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to the castle," Waluigi answered. Mona shot a glance at the palace, then looked back at Waluigi.

"You know how to get in?"

"Yes."

"Then, wait!" She grabbed his arm and tried to get him to stop, but he shook off her hand and kept going. Mona sighed and continued to walk with him. "Let's go get everyone else. We can't just go in there by ourselves."

"You're not coming with me."

"What? Why not?"

"Do you really think four people are going to be able to get into the castle and walk around without a problem? And I already know where I need to go. I don't need you around to slow me down."

"But I want to go with you."

"No." Waluigi suddenly stopped walking, causing Mona to jar to a halt herself. "Go back to the house."

"But-"

"Go."

Mona simply stood there for a moment looking up at Waluigi. She went to say something, but immediately closed her mouth. She knew she wouldn't be able to change his mind. She looked at the ground for a moment, then back at Waluigi. She suddenly gave him a hug and simply held on to him for a moment. Waluigi stared at her, and she released a little in order to look up at him.

"Don't get yourself caught, okay?" she said with a slightly shaky voice and a chuckle. Waluigi remained silent as Mona fully released him and took a step back, smiling. "Please, be careful. I'll be waiting for you."

Mona headed back for the house. Waluigi looked after her for a while, until she opened up the door and looked back. He suddenly turned around and continued on his way to the pond. Behind him, Mona smiled and closed the door, leaving everything up to her bro.

–

Waluigi emerged from beneath the surface of the pond, right behind the water drop-off that Lakilulu described to him. It wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world to be soaking in pond water on a relatively cold morning, and he hoped the woman was telling him the truth about the secret passage. It wasn't easy making getting into the pond look inconspicuous.

With his hat in one hand to keep it from floating away, he used to other to hold himself in place against the wall and proceeded to pound his hat hand against the rock. Sure enough, the sound it produced led Waluigi to believe that it was hollow on the other side, and that that portion of the wall wasn't even actual rock. He hit the wall a little harder and a bit of the material chipped away. He hit it a few more times and, eventually, a tiny hole was poked through to the other side. He could feel an icy cold air flowing out of the miniscule opening that sent a chill down his spine, but it was proof that there was, indeed, something beyond that wall.

He put his hat back on and held himself in place with his newly freed hand, considering it was starting to hurt after hitting the wall so much. He began to pound on it with the other hand, managing to slowly chip away more and more of the material. After a while, he managed to make a hole just big enough to fit his hand through. This made the process faster, for pulling away the rock-like material was much easier than punching it in.

It wasn't long before he found himself beginning to claw at actual rock all around the circle. Lakilulu hadn't lied when she said the pathway was a small one, but it was big enough to fit Waluigi's skinny body.

Trying his best to ignore the cold of the crawl space, Waluigi pulled himself up out of the water and into the pathway. After roughly a minute of pushing himself along the ground through almost complete darkness, he could feel the space around him open up. He tried his best to control his shivering as he stood up in the cave and stepped out of the way of the hole. The only source of light he could hope to get came from the outside, and that barely illuminated even a portion of the cave. Thankfully, though, it did allow him to pinpoint the trapdoor he was told about. It was right in the center of the room.

Waluigi went to the door and grabbed one hand on to the metal loop used to open it. He tested the weight of the door by starting off with a light tug, then putting a bit of effort behind his pull. When the door didn't budge, he used both hands and put all his strength into opening the door. After a while of straining, it felt like the trapdoor wasn't going to give way, but a dull grinding sound filled the air, and the door finally slid out of its slot in the ground. Having loosened it up, Waluigi granted himself a quick break before grabbing on to the ring again and pulling. The door came up much more easily this time, and he managed to swing it all the way open, dropping it on its top side and leaving the hole open for him to enter.

He peered into the new path and had to take a moment to will himself into entering. Down there was pitch black darkness. Who knew exactly what could be waiting for him?

Waluigi walked around the hole until he discovered a ladder in it carved into the rock wall. He sat down above the ladder, letting his feet hang in the hole below. He took another minute to just stare into the dark depths and asked himself if he should really go through with the plan. What were the chances that he'd even be successful? He was about to basically invade a castle and attempt to escape with three other people in tow, if he went ahead and freed the prince of Sarasaland like Lakilulu asked him to. But why was he about to do this? He had no obligation to any of those people. It wasn't his duty to help any of them. He didn't have to do any of this.

No, no. He had to go through with this. He couldn't start thinking otherwise now. This wasn't for himself. This wasn't for the princess or her boyfriend or the prince of Sarasaland. This wasn't for Wario or John or Sarasaland or the Mushroom Kingdom. This was for Mona. This was for his sister. And it was for her that he finally forced himself to climb down into that hole, into the darkness that normally petrified him from head to toe. But as long as he kept the smile he knew he would see on her face once this was all over in his mind, he managed to press onward. He couldn't think of how improbable this whole operation was. All he could do was focus on trying his best to apply his sneaking skills to traversing the castle. He would see this through. He had to.

After a few seconds of climbing, Waluigi touched down on solid ground. He held a hand to the wall in front of him, took a deep breath, and began to edge along the rock until he had an adjacent wall to guide him. He then turned around and began to walk forward, completely blind in the darkness. Eventually, he closed his eyes as he pressed forward. Somehow, it seemed to help calm his nerves.

It took a few minutes of very slow walking for Waluigi to find another wall impeding his path. He opened his eyes, though it was to no avail, for he saw nothing more than he could see with his eyes closed. Undeterred, he began to feel the wall, and, like the area in the rock behind the water drop-off, it was obvious that the obstruction was not made of real rock, and it was warm to the touch. He had to be just on the other side of the dungeon.

Now it was a matter of discovering how to get through. Hitting the wall let Waluigi know that it was rather thick, and Lakilulu never did tell him how to open it. He didn't know if he had to look for some kind of switch or just try to push it open. Figuring it would be an easier test, though, Waluigi began to push on the edge of the wall. It didn't budge at all.

Waluigi gave himself a break and caught his breath. He closed his eyes again to calm himself down; being stuck in that darkness when he knew the exit was right in front of him started to make him panic. He told himself that he would begin to search for a switch of some sort when he was sure he could do it calmly, and not in a frantic desperation.

Once he was okay, he started to feel around with his hands and feet. The rock, for the most part, felt quite flat and uniform. He hoped that, if a switch did exist, it wouldn't conform to its surroundings.

He felt all along the artificial wall and the floor underneath it. Nothing about the area was odd in any way. By the time he reached the opposite wall from the one he used to guide himself though, he quickly discovered an irregularity. Just a few feet back into the hallway, he felt something like a carving on the wall. The very moment he found it, he pressed against it, and it sank into the wall and produced a clicking noise. He became excited, certain that the wall would open for him now, but no such luck. Pressing the carving didn't do a thing.

Waluigi couldn't help but begin to panic a little when this happened. He was certain that finding a button would be the key to opening that wall. He removed his finger from the carving and was set on finding something else when the button clicked again and rose back to its previous state with Waluigi's finger. It then fell to the ground the second Waluigi dropped his hand back to his side. Curious, Waluigi poked inside the dent once again, and, to his surprise, found a second button behind it. He pushed it. But, again, nothing happened.

What the hell? What did he have to do? Was pressing one button and hitting a hidden button behind it not enough? Well, obviously it wasn't. Waluigi put his forehead in the palm of his hand, turned his back to the wall and sunk down to the floor. His heart was starting to race and his anxiety began to heighten. Even though he was certain there was nothing in the darkness besides himself, ideas of unknown and unseeable beings creeping up on him filled his mind. He just wanted to get out of there and find a bit of light, but he was becoming too frightened to even move. He began to curl himself up, protect himself from the invisible terrors of the darkness all around him. As he began to succumb to his panic, however, he felt the carving that fell out of the wall on his foot. By this point, he felt that the carving hiding that button was nothing more than a red herring, but he had to make himself do something, and he figured he could give it one last shot, however unlikely as it was that it would do anything.

He grabbed the circular carving and forced himself to stand back up. He quickly relocated the spot it previously occupied in the wall and tried to put it back. It wouldn't go back in completely though, and he twisted it around to try to make it fit. Eventually, it did sink back in comfortably, and Waluigi heard yet another click.

Suddenly, he could hear a series of gears turning in the wall behind the carving switch, and the ground began to tremble. The man-made wall suddenly split from the ceiling of the tunnel, sending a beam of light in that rushed across the top of the path. Waluigi had to shield his eyes as he looked at it to let them readjust. After the initial jerk starting the wall's descent into the ground, it moved down at a slow, smooth pace.

Waluigi watched on as the room beyond slowly revealed itself. The room was awash in a warm glow, lit by torches, and he could see metal bars coming down from the ceiling on either side of the room. Once the wall was completely down, Waluigi stepped over it, and two pairs of eyes were staring at him. On the left, a slightly beaten middle-aged man, on the right, the kid he saw in the park on the day he and Wario tried to steal Princess Peach's purse. So, he was Princess Daisy's boyfriend. Go figure. It didn't matter though. Waluigi was finally in the castle dungeon, just like Lakilulu said he would be after following her instructions.

"Well, didn't expect to have a guest show up from the cave," Jeff commented as the wall began to go back up and Waluigi stepped further into the dungeon. Luigi's jaw nearly dropped off his face upon seeing the boy walk by.

"You, you're that guy who tried to steal Peach's purse!" Luigi exclaimed, stepping back in shock. "What are _you_ doing here!"

"I'm here to get you guys and the princess out of here," Waluigi said, nonchalantly searching around the dungeon for a way to open up the cell doors.

"What!"

"Well, that's a very noble goal, buddy," Jeff complimented, cutting off Luigi, who seemed unable to believe reality at all at the moment. "So, how'd you find out about that secret passage?"

"A Lakitu woman my family," he paused for a moment, "my caretaker found on the road told me about it. She told me to break you two out, and that the princess is on the third floor in the west wing. We're going there after I get you out of here."

"A Lakitu woman on the road... When did she leave the castle?" Jeff asked himself.

"Why are you doing this?" Luigi said, clutching the bars and staring at Waluigi as the boy searched through a desk that rested next to Jeff's cell on the other side of a partition. "You were assaulting my friends back in Toad Town just a few days ago, and now you're suddenly here and trying to help us out? What the heck made you want to do that?"

"Will you shut up?" Waluigi commanded, making Luigi fall silent immediately. "It's not important why I want to help you."

The three of them could hear a couple guards talking at the top of the stairs leading to the dungeon. One asked the other if he heard talking coming from down the stairs and the other denied hearing anything. Regardless, the one who heard voices said he was going to check in on everything, telling the other to go ahead and join the forces ordered to man the front gate.

As the guard hurried down the stairs, Waluigi dashed to the wall next to the stairs and sidled up to it. Once the guard arrived on the scene a few seconds later, Waluigi jumped out behind him and held the man around the neck with his arm. The guard tried to shout, but his windpipe was completely cut off and Waluigi refused to let up on his hold. A matter of seconds later, the guard passed out, and Waluigi lowered him to the ground. Seeing that the guard had a large key ring at his waist, Waluigi lifted it and headed back to the cells.

"Impressive," Jeff said as the boy began to cycle through the keys, using each of them on the cell door lock in an attempt to find the correct one. "It's the key with the solid square on the end," Jeff told him. Only a few seconds later, Waluigi found the correct key and opened Jeff's door. Jeff stepped out with a smile on his face as Waluigi turned and freed Luigi from his prison. "Thanks, buddy. I owe you one."

Luigi wasn't quite so grateful for the help. Instead of giving any thanks, he immediately made for the stairs, ready and raring to get to Daisy.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on Luigi," Jeff called out, stopping Luigi before he jetted out of the dungeon. "Slow down a bit. We can't just go running out there."

"But we have to get to Daisy!"

"Calm down. I think sitting around in this place has made you a little too antsy. You're smarter than this, Luigi. You know that charging straight to her room isn't going to work."

Luigi stopped for a moment and pressed his back against the wall. He let Jeff's words sink in, and he made himself calm down. Jeff was right. If the three of them were going to get to Daisy, they needed to think up a plan of attack.

Luigi looked over at the unconscious guard and a light bulb seemed to click on in his head. "Well, what if one of us dressed up as that guard? That person could get by without being noticed and probably distract other guards from the two of us that aren't disguised."

"My thoughts exactly," Jeff said with a smile. He stepped over to the downed guard and evaluated his size. He seemed to be right about Jeff's height, though a little bit thicker. Regardless, Jeff figured he'd be able to slip on the uniform easily enough. And considering his history at the castle, he would be the best one to impersonate a royal guard.

Jeff accepted the role of the fake guard and stripped the sentry of his armor as swiftly as possible. Once the guard was down to his boxers, Waluigi and Luigi carried him into Luigi's previous cell while Jeff climbed into the garbs. The boys left the guard on the floor and locked the cell door behind themselves. By the time they rejoined Jeff, he was already half dressed.

"Man, this stuff is smelly," he said, a look of reluctance on his face as he slipped on the helmet that covered most of his head. "...And wet. I didn't really know how hot these uniforms must get. Poor guys are probably all sweating like crazy."

As Jeff forced himself into the armor, Luigi went over to the nearest wall and rested his head against it. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Third floor in the west wing. That's where Waluigi said Daisy's room was. Luigi had no idea where that was located exactly, but it sounded like a sizable distance, especially when he saw how large the parts of the castle he was able to see were. The three of them would really need to be on the same wave length if they even wanted to reach Daisy's room, let alone get her out of the castle. It was a tall order. But there was no doubt in his mind. He would do anything he could possibly do to help her. And one way to do that was to erase his feelings for this guy who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Despite his crime in the past, Luigi and Jeff wouldn't even be out of their cells if it wasn't for his help. It was time to start over and give this guy a chance.

Luigi stood up straight and turned around to face Waluigi, who was standing next to the desk with his arms folded, waiting for Jeff to finish dressing up. "Thank you," Luigi said as genuinely as he could. Waluigi merely looked at him, then went back to waiting. "I'm sorry about the way I acted when I first saw you here. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't even have a chance to see Daisy right now." Waluigi continued to stay silent. Luigi almost felt as if the guy wasn't even paying attention to him. "By the way, my name's Luigi."

Luigi extended his arm to shake the boy's hand. Waluigi looked at him again, then down at the offered hand. "Waluigi." He went back to waiting.

Knowing that he wasn't going to get a shake out of his new acquaintance, Luigi dropped his arm back to his side. At the very least, he managed to get his name. That was something. "Nice to meet you."

"Ah, okay," Jeff said, having gotten himself fully dressed. He let out a bit of a disgusted grumble. "Man, this is the grossest thing I've had to wear in a while. Anyway, hand me those keys, would you?" Waluigi gave them up, and Jeff proceeded to reattach them to his waist piece. After that, he knelt down and picked up the spear the guard was holding, then stood at attention. "How do I look? Think any of the guards will recognize me?"

"I don't think anyone will know it's you," Luigi answered. "I wouldn't be able to tell at least."

"Great," Jeff said with a smile. "Alright then, I'll go upstairs first and see if anybody's around. If the coast is clear, I'll call you two up. Stay close to me and I'll try to take us down the fastest route up to Daisy's room. You both ready?"

Luigi and Waluigi nodded, and Jeff immediately turned to head upstairs. The boys watched him as he got to the ground floor and looked around. After a few seconds, he subtly gestured for them to come upstairs, and he began to walk off to the right as if he were on patrol. Luigi and Waluigi hurried up the stairs and poked around the corner to double check, then followed behind Jeff.

The false guard rounded the nearby corner and his heart jumped into his throat. Right there in front of him was another guard walking his way. "Stay back!" Jeff whispered to the boys, forcing them to jolt to a stop. Luigi rounded back the way they came and hid behind a suit of armor near the dungeon staircase while Waluigi pressed himself against the wall near Jeff.

"Status report?" the guard said.

"All clear this way," Jeff answered. The guard stepped closer and stopped a few feet away from Jeff.

"You believe all this?" the guard asked, taking the moment to get a little more comfortable. "We're gonna have the entire town at the gate before long. Toadstool needs to hurry up so we can get all this settled."

"No kidding."

Jeff kept the guard wrapped in the conversation for a while before the man decided it was time to get back to his post. Jeff turned around and walked back to the hallway Luigi and Waluigi were hiding in, pretended to get back to work himself. As Jeff passed him, Waluigi peered around the corner and spotted the guard. Quickly and quietly, he slinked out into the adjacent hallway and hurried up to the guard. Jeff turned around and tried to grab him, but was too slow. Luigi came out from behind the suit of armor and joined Jeff in watching Waluigi.

"What is he doing?" he asked. Jeff shook his head.

"I don't know."

They watched on silently as Waluigi reared up behind the guard and delivered a swift, precise chop to his neck. The guard immediately fell back and Waluigi caught him. He dragged the downed guard back over to the previous hallway and sat him up against the wall. He looked for a door aside from the one at the end of hall that led outside. He saw one next to the dungeon stairs and asked Jeff what was on the other side of it.

"A break room for the guards," he answered, shocked that Waluigi made such a risky move.

"Check to see if anyone's in there," Waluigi said. Deciding not to waste time asking questions, Jeff went ahead and entered the room. A few seconds passed by where Waluigi kept a lookout for anyone else, and Luigi simply stared at the unconscious guard, surprised at the sudden action.

Jeff popped his head back out of the room and summoned the boys to come over. Waluigi told Luigi to help him carry the guard. Luigi snapped out of his stunned state and nodded before grabbing the guard's feet and lifting him up. The two carted him off to the room and Jeff closed the door behind them. They dropped the guard off next to a circular table in the middle of the room.

Luigi went to ask what the heck Waluigi was thinking when Jeff suddenly said, "Another disguise?"

"Yeah," Waluigi answered. He turned to Luigi. "Get dressed. He's your size."

Luigi suddenly realized what was going on. He was against committing more violence than needed, but Waluigi had a completely logical reason for knocking out a second guard. It would be much easier to sneak around if Jeff wasn't the only person dressed as a guard. Now, Luigi could slip right under the castle staff's noses too, as long as he didn't act too suspicious.

Luigi worked quickly to disrobe the guard and dress himself in the armor. Jeff had to step in and help him with some pieces, but it didn't take very long for Luigi to join the royal ranks of the Sarasaland Castle Guards.

As Jeff gave Luigi a quick primer on how to behave like a guard, Waluigi picked up the unconscious man and stuffed him into one of the room's lockers. Once he was done with that, he turned back to the two masters of disguise.

"I'm done here," he said. Jeff and Luigi looked at him.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Luigi asked.

"You two can get to your princess without me," he explained. "There's no point in taking more people up there than you need."

"So, what are you gonna do, buddy?" Jeff said. Waluigi looked at the door leading back to the hallway.

"I need to figure out where to get some compensation."

Jeff laughed a bit and Luigi raised an eyebrow at Waluigi. Compensation?

Soon, Jeff started fidgeting through the keys attached to his uniform and eventually found the one he was looking for. He detached it from the ring and tossed it to Waluigi, who barely managed to catch it, not having expected Jeff to give it to him.

"Well, I did say I owed you one for helping us out, so there you go," Jeff said with a smile. "That key will help get you to the treasure room. You can take whatever you want if you manage to find it."

Without a word, Waluigi looked at Jeff for a moment, then went back to the door and opened it. After sticking his head out and checking to see if it was safe, he slid out of the room and disappeared into the hallway of the castle, off to fulfill another mission.

"You're just gonna let him steal from the treasure room?" Luigi asked.

"Why not?" Jeff answered. "It's just some money. And he really helped us here. I don't see why he shouldn't be given the chance to raid the treasure room for a while."

That situation felt so backwards to Luigi. Not too long ago, that same kid was committing a crime by trying to steal Peach's purse, and now Jeff was basically allowing him to steal as much as he wanted in order to return a favor. Luigi could only wonder why Waluigi would even bother to put his neck on the line even more than he already did just for a shot at getting some money though. Even though they didn't exactly have the best first meeting in the world, Luigi could tell that Waluigi wasn't a selfish type of person; that was made obvious when he went through so much trouble to free them and start them on their way to reaching Daisy. Exactly what was he doing all these things for?

"Do you think he'll get to the room?" Luigi asked. Jeff exited into the hallway and Luigi followed him, closing the door behind them.

"He might," Jeff answered. "If it's really important to him, he probably will. He obviously has some skills after all. But let's let him worry about that, okay? We've got a goal of our own right now. We have to deliver you up to Daisy."


End file.
